{"id":36887,"date":"2017-10-07T15:15:20","date_gmt":"2017-10-07T19:15:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=36887"},"modified":"2017-10-07T15:15:26","modified_gmt":"2017-10-07T19:15:26","slug":"on-stage-cherry-plays-on-pa-roots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=36887","title":{"rendered":"On Stage: Cherry plays on Pa. roots"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Denny Dyroff<\/strong>, Staff Writer, The Times<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Cherry<\/p><\/div>\n

There are three shows tonight in the area featuring bands from around the country and all three have Pennsylvania connections.<\/p>\n

The band with the most local connection is Cherry, which is headlining a show on October 7 at Boot and Saddle (1131 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, 215-639-4528, www.bootandsaddlephilly.com<\/em><\/a>).<\/p>\n

Cherry\u2019s new album \u201cDumbness\u201d was just released on September 29 on\u00a0Lame-O Records.\u00a0The Philadelphia indie rock project\u00a0features ex-Kite Party members Russell Edling and Justin Fox, current Three Man Cannon bassist Spencer Colmbs, and Lame-O Records owner Eric Osman on drums.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up in Northeast Pennsylvania \u2013 in Tamaqua,\u201d said Edling, during a phone interview Friday as the band was driving to a gig in Columbus, Ohio.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went to Temple with an English major and then switched to art. Now, I work as a graphic designer. Cherry is based in Philadelphia. I was in another band before Cherry called Kite Party. That band was breaking up and I wanted to continue doing music.<\/p>\n

\u201cI initially thought I\u2019d write songs and record them myself. I didn\u2019t have a band. But, in order to play the songs live, I needed to put a band together.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe music community in Philadelphia is so tight-knit that it was easy to find great musicians. Justin was in Kite Party. Spencer was in Three Man Cannon. Jesse I met through another project and Eric runs the label. Our first gig as Cherry was at Everybody Hits in August 2015.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cherry is a band created with the intention of engaging in pure exploration. In the final days of Kite Party, Edling started to notice that the more serious they began to take their art, the less is started to mean.<\/p>\n

As this was happening, Edling experienced a major life event that put the silliness of that seriousness into perspective, and forced him to re-asses how he felt about the band and music.<\/p>\n

He started Cherry in an attempt to look at his art in a different way — to write a record that the band members enjoyed, and that never got too caught up in the gravity of trying to be an artist.<\/p>\n

The album\u2019s first lyrical idea comes in the form of \u201cEverybody’s dumb \/ go and ask anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Edling, \u201cThe great equalizer of universal human foolishness. We all take ourselves too seriously, we are too precious, too self-obsessed as we walk down the street thinking about cheeseburgers, dog shit clinging to the treads in our business casual footwear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Musically, \u201cDumbness\u201d covers a lot of ground musically and also is a meditation on the great equalizing force of human foolishness.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith \u2018Dumbness,\u2019 I\u2019d write stuff and do demos on my computer, show the band and then hash them out at practice. I was coming up with the basic framework.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe album does have a theme. There was just this sense \u2013 a realization that people take themselves too seriously. The songs deal with coming to terms with that \u2013 that it\u2019s not that important, that it\u2019s O.K., that there is no logic to all of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recorded a lot of the album at Jesse\u2019s spot,\u201d said Edling. \u201cHe did a lot of the initial tracking. We finished the rest of the tracking with producer Matt Schimelsenic at his studio in the Poconos \u2013 The Bunk in Tannersville. It was nice to have someone with a different perspective get in on the process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Video link for Cherry \u2013 https:\/\/youtu.be\/SuRbXvyILBk<\/a><\/p>\n

The show at Boot and Saddle, which has Yankee Bluff and Clasp as openers, will start at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $10.dww<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

SINK IN<\/p><\/div>\n

SINK IN just released its debut album \u201cOrdinary People, Extraordinary Things.\u201d Co-incidentally, the album was also released on September 29.<\/p>\n

And, like Cherry, SINK IN will have a \u201cCD Release Party\u201d on October 7.\u00a0 The band\u2019s show will be at the Rusty Nail (2580 Haverford Road, Ardmore, 610-649-6245, http:\/\/www.thenail1.com<\/a>).<\/p>\n

With an energetic blend of soaring melodies and driving rhythms, SINK IN — Tighe Eshleman, vocals; Cobrette Bardole, guitar; Brett Latorre, bass, vocals; Stefano Pigliapoco, drums, vocals — is the definition of the DIY underground band turned pop\/rock powerhouse.<\/p>\n

SINK IN kicked off in 2015 by recording its debut EP \u201cWide Eyes\u201d and embarked on a full US touring schedule. In 2016, the band released a single called \u201cCastaway,\u201d which amassed over half a million views on YouTube.<\/p>\n

SINK IN entered the studio once again in the winter of 2016 to record its first full-length album \u201cOrdinary People, Extraordinary Things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey list the band as being from Hershey and L.A. but I\u2019m the only one from Hershey,\u201d said Eshleman, during a phone interview Thursday afternoon from Providence, Rhode Island.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was touring in a different band \u2013 a band from Lebanon called Wings to Save \u2013 and met my new bandmates when the old band split up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two of the member of SINK IN are the products of Pennsylvania high aswchools \u2013 Eshleman from Hershey High and Bardole from Susquenita High in Duncannon.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrett is from Sparta, New Jersey and Stefano is from L.A.,\u201d said Eshleman. \u201cAnd, our tour guitarist Joshua Lambczyk is from St. Louis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recorded our first EP as SINK IN around Christmas 2015. Then, we relocated to L.A. to develop and to meet the right people. L.A. is tough financially.<\/p>\n

\u201cCobrette and I were living out of the band van when we were trying to earn enough money to get to the next show. We hit Wal-Mart parking lots and had a full set-up with tents off the trailer at night.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took a while to get things going after the first EP. We toured a lot. It was a slow growth because we were doing everything on our own.\u201d<\/p>\n

Things progressed and now SINK IN has its debut album and a record label to release it — StandBy Records.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started recording the album in 2015 in Florida with a big-name producer and it wasn\u2019t working right,\u201d said Eshleman.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, we came back to Pennsylvania to work with Frankie Davis as our producer \u2013 the same guy we used on \u2018Wide Eyes.\u2019 We spent a lot of tine working on it at his studio Seven Dwarfs and finished it in May 2017.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody in the band writes. In the beginning, Stefano and I sat together in L.A. \u2013 Stefano on guitar and me on vocals. We got the structure down on the songs and sent them to Cobrette. All four of us sing. Our goal is to pull it off live.\u201d<\/p>\n

Video link for SINK IN \u2013 https:\/\/youtu.be\/PgGsTFCYRFQ<\/a><\/p>\n

The show at the Rusty Nail, which also features Forever At Last, Perennial, Ashes To Vanity and Trauma Bravo, will start at 8 p.m.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Lucky Chops<\/p><\/div>\n

Fans heading to see either of Gogol Bordello\u2019s shows this weekend \u2013 October 7 and 8 at Union Transfer (1026 Spring Garden Street, Philadelphia, 215-232-2100, www.utphilly.com<\/em><\/a>) \u2013 should make the effort to get to the club early enough to hear the opening band \u2013 Lucky Chops.<\/p>\n

The line-up of instruments for Lucky Chops includes trombone, tenor sax, trumpet, sousaphone and drums. It\u2019s a mix of instruments that gets people up-and-dancing.<\/p>\n

With no electric instruments, the band can set up and play virtually anywhere \u2013 from a town plaza in a seaside city in Italy to a subway platform in New York City.<\/p>\n

Lucky Chops have played both of those locations and, it was in the subways stations of Manhattan that the band developed its initial following.<\/p>\n

Lucky Chops features Josh Holcomb-Trombone, Daro Behroozi-Tenor Sax, Joshua Gawel-Trumpet, Charles Sams IV-Drums and
\nRaphael Buyo-Sousaphone.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe band started 11 years ago,\u201d said Gawel, during a phone interview Thursday afternoon. \u201cI grew in in Berks County and went to Daniel Boone High School in Birdsboro. The rest of the guys are from New York City. I went to New York after I graduated high school.<\/p>\n

\u201cI moved from a small town to New York City to study at the Manhattan School of music. I met the trombone player in college.<\/p>\n

The band started when they were in high school and three of the originals are still with the band. It\u2019s been a stable line-up for the last three years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holcomb said, \u201cWe met when we were in high school in Manhattan. We all went to La Guardia High School 10 years ago. It\u2019s a specialized arts high school.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts is a high school specializing in teaching visual arts and performing arts. Situated near Lincoln Center in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of the Upper West Side, it was founded by Mayor LaGuardia.<\/p>\n

In 1948, a similar institution \u2013 the School of Performing Arts \u2013 was created to harness students\u2019 talents in dance. The schools merged on paper in 1961. The 1980 dramatic film \u201cFame\u201d was based on student life at the School of Performing Arts prior to its merger into LaGuardia High School.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we began, we started playing in the streets and subways stations in New York,\u201d said Holcomb. \u201cWe just all started playing our instruments prior to high school.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lucky Chops might be one of the few bands in America to hone its chops on the subway platforms beneath Grand Central Station.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlay three hours on a subway station in New York and, if you\u2019re good, you can make enough money to sustain yourself,\u201d said Holcomb. \u201cIt helps you learn how to captivate an audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gawel said, \u201cWe also started doing club gigs. When we played in the subway stations, we handed out business cards and started getting offers to do weddings and upscale corporate gigs.\u2019<\/p>\n

According to Holcomb, \u201cTwo years ago, we got more serious about Lucky Chops. With the other bands around the world in swing dance, there was a lack of energy. None of them have the energy that Lucky Chops does.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason we started pursuing it more seriously as a career was pour desire to expose more people to the instrumentalization and music.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have an unusual lineup and we want people to hear the type of music we play. There are five of us and we play 15 instruments between us. We like to keep it interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recently, Lucky Chops joined the \u201c1Million Club\u201d on Facebook and celebrated by releasing and eight-bit video for their song \u201cTemple of Boom,\u201d which is the band\u2019s first-ever animated music video.
\nThe eight-bit animated video mimics Nintendo\u2019s Super Mario Brothers <\/em>and Activision\u2019s Pitfall<\/em>, with each band member tackling different arcade challenges and teaming up to battle a five-eyed creature with their musical instruments as their lethal weapons.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the video went viral, we got interest from management,\u201d said Gawel. \u201cAnd, we went on the road a lot. We\u2019ve played in 27 countries since May 2016 \u2013 mostly in Europe. Now, we\u2019re opening for Gogol Bordello.\u201d<\/p>\n

Video link for Lucky Chops \u2013 https:\/\/youtu.be\/J4TL54hPFE0<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The shows at Union Transfer will start at 8:30 p.m. each night. Tickets are $27.50.<\/p>\n

Fans of modern jazz are in a great mood this weekend when Philadelphia hosts The October Revolution of Jazz & Contemporary Music<\/a> (www.theoctoberrevolution.org<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Ballister<\/p><\/div>\n

The four-day (Oct. 5-8) music festival presented by Ars Nova Workshop<\/a> in partnership with FringeArts, features some of the biggest names in jazz, experimental and new classical music.<\/p>\n

One of those acts is Ballister, which will be performing on October 8 at Christ Church (Neighborhood House, 20 North\u00a0American Street, Philadelphia, 215-922-1695).<\/p>\n

Ballister, the powerhouse trans-Atlantic trio featuring Chicago saxophonist Dave Rempis<\/a>, Chicago anti-cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm<\/a>, and Norwegian percussionist Paal Nilssen-Love<\/a>, is touring in support of its recent Aerophonic Records<\/a> release \u201cSlag,<\/a>\u201d and its recent Dropa Disc <\/a>release \u201cLow Level Stink<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

This free-wheeling grouping was an idea discussed for several years by the band members before they eventually met at a closed session in 2009.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack in 2009, we felt this trio could be a good fit,\u201d said Rempis, during a phone interview Thursday from a tour stop in Columbia, South Carolina.<\/p>\n

Since the session felt great, they went ahead with some live dates in 2010, also self-releasing the limited edition live recording \u201cBastard String\u201d that year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did about 10 concerts in 2010 and they went really well. Since then, we\u2019ve toured the states five times and Europe three times.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ballister has released five other recordings \u2013 \u201cMechanisms\u201d (Clean Feed Records<\/a>, 2012), \u201cMi Casa es en Fuego\u201d (self-released, 2013), \u201cBoth Ends\u201d (Bocian Records<\/a>, 2014) and \u201cWorse For The Wear\u201d (Aerophonic Records<\/a>, 2015).<\/p>\n

The trio\u2019s most recent release, \u201cSlag\u201d <\/a>came out on Aerophonic Records<\/a> in January, and was soon joined by a limited edition LP\/DVD combo titled \u201cLow Level Stink\u201d <\/a>on the Belgian imprint Dropa Disc<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recorded \u2018Slag\u2019 in March 2015 in London on a tour we were doing then,\u201d said Rempis. \u201cIt came out on my label Aerophonic Records<\/a> earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe try to combine releases with other live work. Every two years, we go out for a few tours. It\u2019s a cycle of balancing a lot of different things. All three of us are also involved in a variety of other projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ballister is a hard-hitting group. The unabashed energy of Rempis and Nilssen-Love, coupled with the electrified cello antics of Lonberg-Holm, make for a powerful listening experience that combines driving grooves with noisy textures and occasional melodic interjections.<\/p>\n

These sliding and overlapping rhythms often give the music a feeling as if a rug is slowly being pulled out from underneath the listener while the music still maintains a strong forward momentum.<\/p>\n

\u201cSlag,\u201d which was recorded live at the renowned Caf\u00e9 Oto in London in March of 2015, finds a well-honed working unit that has settled into a deep groove in the middle of a long European tour.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn \u2018Slag,\u2019 everything is free improvised music,\u201d said Rempis. \u201cThere are certain areas we gravitate toward musically but we don\u2019t set out to re-create anything we\u2019ve played before. It\u2019s more organic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIdeally, if the band is playing well, we\u2019re all on the same page where the music is going. The music is a vessel. We\u2019re not asking questions about how to continue. We just let it flow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Video link for Ballister — https:\/\/youtu.be\/oTgbt7BSu5Q<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The show at Christ Church will start at 6:30 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Denny Dyroff, Staff Writer, The Times There are three shows tonight in the area featuring bands from around the country and all three have Pennsylvania connections. The band with the most local connection is Cherry, which is headlining a show on October 7 at Boot and Saddle (1131 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, 215-639-4528, www.bootandsaddlephilly.com). […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36889,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8457],"tags":[10469,10466,7426,10468,10467],"class_list":["post-36887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-d-arts-entertainment","tag-ballster","tag-cherry","tag-featured","tag-lukcy-chops","tag-sink-in"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36887"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36887\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36888,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36887\/revisions\/36888"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/36889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}