Break In Fund Raiser Show! a Preview with TJ Kong, Mat Burke, Ali Wadsworth, Penrose, and Levee Drivers

So our pal Mat Burke had the bad luck of getting his place broken into a few months ago.  To overcome the major shortfall that isn't covered by Mat's numerous jobs, he's doing things to raise money in the only way that he knows how: a "Break In Fundraiser."  Here's what Mat has to say about the event:

"As many of you know my home was broken into shortly after christmas. The burglars ended up stealing around 10,000 dollars of my stuff. Bummer I know but the really bad thing about all of this was that about 5-6 thousand of that wasn't even my stuff. It was mics, mixing boards, pedals and other odds and ends i was borrowing from a studio for the recording of my new record.

Underground Arts and their awesome staff has donated the room and the staffs time to help raise money in hopes of paying back the studio and replacing the equipment that has been stolen. Every dollar of the ticket sales will go toward this. We will also be holding a raffle and have donation jars placed around the venue to help raise some extra money.

This is a very important event to me and it blows my mind the support and help i have been receiving from the Philly music community. It will be an amazing night of music and I hope to see everyone there."

So this is the deal the folks at Underground Arts and the rest of this killer line-up are all coming out to support Mat Burke in his efforts to repay the studio for this long gone gear. I know there are a shit ton of other awesome shows that night, and choices will be tough. So here's some details about the line-up to help sway your decision.

TJ KONG
Dan Bruskewicz, front man of TJ Kong and the Atomic Bomb, will be playing songs from the brand new Kong, a 5 track EP released on April 18th.  Produced by Bill Moriarty, these new songs are raw, gritty, and adventurous.  Some parts New Orleans Jazz-Tonk, some parts Blues, the songs are filled with cryptic lyrics with undertones of love and despair.  Fresh off of a killer EP release show at Johnny Brenda's, TJ Kong is ready to kick some ass.





Mat Burke

Mat Burke makes his home here in Philly after growing up in Scranton and spending a few years in Nashville. He is in final cuts with producers Josh Friedman and Brian Strouse for his new album Still Bleeding. According to Mat, the new record is "hands down the darkest and most personal work I've ever created. Brian, Josh and I created something totally diff than anything I've ever done. I was out of my comfort zone on this one and learned that space and emptiness can be a beautiful thing."

For Mat, this marks his first new work since 2012's Tattooed Skin and Broken Vinyl, which was produced by August John Lutz II of Levee Drivers and backed also by those fellas from Morrisville, Pa.






PENROSE
Penrose is ready to rock.  While the fellas are still in the after-glow of releasing Circe, produced by the legendary Bill Moriarty of Waking Studios in early '13, Penrose has just finished writing a bunch of material and will soon record their upcoming EP, which you can expect sometime before the year is out. Their set will be jam packed with new songs as well as throwbacks to their 2013 release Circe. They just got off a show at the Marlin Room at Webster Hall last weekend but haven't been back to Philly since December, so prepare for a raucous homecoming for Penrose."











Ali Wadsworth
Ali Wadsworth has been locked in a room with Satellite Hearts for the last few months. They came out once to be Pearl Jam at Boot & Saddle. They broke away another time to play the TJ Kong release show, but otherwise it's been a heck of a lot of recording. Ali and the fellas will be playing songs from the upcoming EP being produced by Reed Kendall at Weird Candle Studios in Avalon NJ. The upcoming release is the complete opposite of the self titled Ali Wadsworth, which features ten tracks written by folks in the Philadelphia scene for Ali. These new songs are written by Ali Wadsworth although her friends will still find a place on the album.

The Satellite Hearts will also be playing a few of their new tunes.  They've been in the studio with Joe Bisirri.  The new Satellite Hearts tunes are finished and "And it sounds amazing, "according to Ali.





 

LEVEE DRIVERS

Fresh from tour, Levee Drivers are geared up to open the night with some new tunes. In late 2013, the band released Speakin' Bourbon Coated Blues. Sparked by this new release they jumped right back into the studio to record a full length at a secret location. Nearly complete, these new tracks are ready to be heard. Some of these new songs have been in the setlists for some time, some are brand new. Catch them now, as a shift from constant Philly shows to more touring may be coming soon.