Wikipedia Genre: Alternative rock, roots rock
Home: New Orleans, LA
Poster Position: 2 (5)
Both Weekends.
Friday at 7:10.
Thoughts: Man, I can't believe the last time they came was in 2017. That is so long ago! In my mind, it would have been like just a few years. Time is weird, man.
Thoughts: Man, I can't believe the last time they came was in 2017. That is so long ago! In my mind, it would have been like just a few years. Time is weird, man.
I actually wrote this one a while back, but then they released the new 2023 album and I wanted to let it marinate, and then I did something wild and booked a trip to go see them at Red Rocks, so I held on to this post for a while. This one will be a little longer than normal, but I've decided that I really like these dudes even more than I did before. [and yes, despite the rain, the Red Rocks show freaking jammed]
2018 saw them release Take Good Care, and it spawned another solid hit. No where near as huge as "Wish I Knew You," but another really solid tune. "All My Friends," with 26.4 million streams.
The most important note about the band, and I feel like I've talked through this a handful of times on this blog, but this is the right venue to continue talking about it - I'm big time because I know the pedal steel guitar player for this band, Ed Williams. I don't know him well or anything, so don't start asking me for tickets or backstage high-fives, I'm just trying to give a tiny bit of a brag here while I can.
When I was a junior (I think) in college, I got to go to Miami for Spring Break with one of my best friends from college (Jason, the guy I always do ACL with each year) and our respective girlfriends (now wives! = score!). We were staying with Jason's girlfriend's dad in Miami, who had this freaking ridiculously amazing house that made us all feel like the coolest people on the planet. Like an episode of MTV Cribs that we got to go inhabit for the week. If I remember correctly, the house was owned by P.T. Barnum or something back in the day. That trip was fun as hell. Caroline's dad hooked us up with a car to drive, Miami Heat tickets, badass dinners, the whole thing. We felt like the coolest college kids on the planet.
When I was a junior (I think) in college, I got to go to Miami for Spring Break with one of my best friends from college (Jason, the guy I always do ACL with each year) and our respective girlfriends (now wives! = score!). We were staying with Jason's girlfriend's dad in Miami, who had this freaking ridiculously amazing house that made us all feel like the coolest people on the planet. Like an episode of MTV Cribs that we got to go inhabit for the week. If I remember correctly, the house was owned by P.T. Barnum or something back in the day. That trip was fun as hell. Caroline's dad hooked us up with a car to drive, Miami Heat tickets, badass dinners, the whole thing. We felt like the coolest college kids on the planet.
Anyway, Ed. Ed was Edward to us back then, and he was the little brother of my friend's girlfriend. Edward was a surly little teenager who was trying to hang with us, but still show how uncool it was to have to hang with us. Perfect encapsulation of a teenage little brother. And so, at one point, he looked over to me as I sat by the backyard pool sipping some frozen drink and enjoying myself, and he says (in a very condescending voice) "You have a lot of freckles!" Which was a sick burn. And off the top of my head, I just responded that "yes, yes, I do." My fellow college kids laughed at that (and we have ever since, it's a random refrain we still use to this day), and I don't think Edward enjoyed it at all. But now little Edward is having the last laugh because his band has become a monster hit. I got to see them play at the Parish years ago, and they bring a ton of energy to their shows and really jam it out. Jason and I hung with them in the green room before their show started, and they all seem like legitimately cool, down-to-earth guys who enjoy doing what they are doing these days.
So, yeah, that monster hit. The band's 2015 album seemed to not do much for years (I'm actually not sure about that, but literally was released on July 17, 2015 (and apparently sold 3,000 copies in its first week), and then it was only in 2017 that they started getting a ton of play on the alternative rock stations. That seems like a long ass time to wait for a hit to come along, more than a year. I'm super curious how that came about for them, so let's dig in to it.
So, yeah, that monster hit. The band's 2015 album seemed to not do much for years (I'm actually not sure about that, but literally was released on July 17, 2015 (and apparently sold 3,000 copies in its first week), and then it was only in 2017 that they started getting a ton of play on the alternative rock stations. That seems like a long ass time to wait for a hit to come along, more than a year. I'm super curious how that came about for them, so let's dig in to it.
The band actually formed in 2007, after frontman David Shaw moved to New Orleans and failed to find good bandmates using Craigslist. “I had some really interesting Craigslist interactions where you don’t know what you’re getting into,” Shaw says with a laugh. But then a chance meeting with guitarists Zack Feinberg, as Shaw hung out and jammed on his front porch, led to the future seed of the band. They added in a handful of musicians they each knew, and started jamming around town. Post-Katrina, they were inspired to use their band name as a nod towards reviving the soul of New Orleans.
Their first official release was 2008's EP The Revivalists. One song on there stood above the rest for sure, "Soulfight" has over 41 million streams.
That song sounds like a New Orleans band, for sure. A little jammy, a little jazzy. Great tune. Shaw doesn't sound quite as powerful there as he does by now. Kind of interesting to hear his evolution. 2010 saw their first full album, Vital Signs, but none of those tunes really popped off. It wasn't until the next album, 2014's City of Sound that they had another tune hit the mainstream and gather some steam. When I saw them at the Parish (and was pretty much cold on everything they did, no history with the band at all), I was blown away by how rabidly the college-aged kids around me knew all the lyrics and partied along. They were IN TO IT. It was "Criminal" that everyone seemed to be there to hear. 4.6 million streams.
Yeah, get right up in that groove right there. Good stuff. And the use of the pedal steel is just different - I mean, other than Robert Randolph, what big bands are out there using the steel for their searing guitar solos like this? If you do a google search for that information, you mainly get stuff about classic (and by classic, I mean dead) steel guitar guys or country music people. I don't know, I know I'm biased here, but I think it makes for a much cooler sound to have the sax and steel added to the otherwise normal rock band sound to get something more interesting and full-sounding.
And then they tapped into the cosmos and found the monster. I read an interview with some of them that talks about it, and Shaw credits the blowup to his marketing team. Which is awesome. Don't you know those people are pumped to get a shoutout when usually they just get crapped on? So yeah, "Wish I Knew You" was released on 2015's Men Amongst Mountains. At the time, it didn't do much at all. And then they released it as a single in February 2016, and I guess the marketing dudes went to town, and it started climbing some of the charts. By now it is 2x platinum in the U.S. and has 187 million streams (up 8 million since I wrote that sentence in May). The odd twists and turns of the modern radio landscape.
Another 97 million views of that video too! Funny video of old people grooving and a good tune as well. As I noted when I first reviewed the album, the good stuff on there is also "Keep Going" and "All in the Family." "Monster" is good too. I think these guys are at their best when they embrace the jamminess of their sound and involve all of the instruments into a groove. I reviewed that album, 2015's Men Amongst Mountains, a while back by now.
2018 saw them release Take Good Care, and it spawned another solid hit. No where near as huge as "Wish I Knew You," but another really solid tune. "All My Friends," with 26.4 million streams.
That one builds almost like an EDM banger, where it just feels like it expands bigger and bigger until you just have to boogie. Strangely enough, I never reviewed that whole album. What a jerk. But I did get the chance to see their ACL taping a few years ago and it was dope as hell.
Finally, they released their most recent disc - 2023's Pour It Out Into The Night - in June 2023. The first single was "Kid," which is great. "Down in the Dirt," is also really good - reminds me of Ryan Bingham with a gospel choir, although that guitar solo makes me think of Mark Knopfler. "The Long Con" has a stone-cold groove in there. "Don't Look Back" makes me want to run through a wall - that driving guitar riff at the start that erupts into the imminently danceable chorus - "six feet deep in the fire now!" is a great line to yell along with. "How We Move" is another than is going to make me dance my ass off at the show.
I am very curious about the mix they'll use for the show - mostly new album? Mostly classics? I am honestly hoping they really push the new disc, I think it is awesome. Setlist seems to show that they'll load up on new songs, which makes me happy. Either way, I'm absolutely seeing this show. Looking forward to it!
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