Root Down in the Shadow

Covers Mix #12 from Wake The Deaf on 8tracks Radio .

This Friday, stands to be the final house show at 3701 Spring Garden.  The home of many kick-ass house shows in the past few years, has really been on the map with 3 Sofar Sounds: Philadelphia shows, 2 Root Down In The Shadow & Swift Guitar Lessons Presents, 3 Cover Club sessions and numerous Live At The Rivals House shows! Rumor has it that after recording some tracks for upcoming albums of The Rivals and Song Dogs , Nomad Recording Studio headed by Rob Swift , is packing up and moving to a new location.  To celebrate this final show at the studio space, we've got a Live At The Rivals House Line-up that looks to be a spectacular. The lineup features songstress Chelsea Mitchell of Dirty Dollhouse, followed by Jake Lewis & The Clergy, who are coming in from Lancaster; and the Bernhardt Family Band.   Come out and show your appreciation for the Rivals House and all the wonderful show's they've hosted for us!!!  #BYOB #NoDouches #NiceMix #S...

Sofar Sounds is based on the idea "Songs for a Room".  A "room": meaning not a warehouse, not an amphitheater, not a club.  These intimate shows are built around fans having a premier experience without the normal trappings of lines, cover charges, overly loud P.A. systems, and uncomfortable venues.  Instead you have bands intermingled with fans in comfortable homes and unique places.  In the case of the June '14 Sofar Sounds: Philadelphia the room is " The Rivals House " aka Nomad Recording Studios aka, home of SwiftLessons .  Whatever you want to call it, it's a cozy place to listen to live music. In fact, it's comfortable enough that we find ourselves back at The Rivals House for the third time in the last year.  Coincidentally enough each time at the Rivals house, the show has involved the Satellite Hearts.   They played the show in September '13 with The Unlikely Candidates , Penrose , and Murchant .  Lead singer Justin Pelle...

In just a few days, THIS SATURDAY, a line-up of epic proportions is ready to be unleashed AT THE RIVALS HOUSE . Last month, we started off the joint series at the Rivals House with rockers Up The Chain and Satellite Hearts .  This month were turning down the volume and doubling the lineup.  Four acts will take to the mic with Sean Hoots, Emily Ana Zeitlyn (Divers), Ladybird, and The Rivals all ready to wow audiences.  Ranging from Folk-tonk to Bluegrass to cutting edge rock, these four local outfits are some of the best Philly has to offer. The event is limited, so be sure to RSVP.    While the event is NOT FREE, please be prepared to pay according to how awesome you think the night is going ($10-20).  To get an idea of what incredible fantasitic-ness you'll be a part of, here are a few videos to get you ready. Sean Hoots from his recent Cover Club session Emily Ana Zeitlyn of Divers at Johnny Brenda's The Rivals from their recent Cover...

It's ironic that a series featuring an extensive collection of Philly-centric covers has also become a sounding board for adventurous new material as well.  The bands invited in for R oot Down In The Shadow' s Cover Club series are given two requirements, one Philly-centric cover and one original.  Time after time the original is an exciting new unreleased track ready to be unveiled to audiences way ahead of upcoming albums. For Kate Faust , she introduces "21st Century Man" to her fans, getting them ready for new material in 2015.   According to Kate, "it's going to be a lot different than Crucial Companion . It's very raw and pure and very truthful. I think it'll resonate deeply with a lot of people." If we follow Kate's trajectory, it will be quite the success.  After parts in other bands ( Toy Soldiers , Perkasie) and leading previous projects ( Lady ) Kate has been gaining more and more traction as she continues to fine tune her ...

For the final session of #CoverClub - Season One we spent the day at Nomad Recording Studio .  Underwater Country Club went wild with their Hall & Oates cover , Our Griffins channeled Strand of Oaks , and for the last act we turned the microphone over to a most intriguing artist.  This life-long musician has often been described as a chameleon, having been in dramatically different bands Lady and Toy Soldiers in the past, before turning her attention to her own creations.  Kate Faust has such a mature professional sound that she gets compared to accomplished artists like Tori Amos , Bjork, or Kate Bush.  She has the acclaimed album, Crucial Companion to her credit and continues to tease fans with bits and pieces of her new works.  A new EP will be released in early '15, and fans can expect a single this fall! Kate, while constantly looking ahead forging new exciting ground, does not shy away from honoring her inspirations.  Earlier this ye...

  Earlier this week we unveiled the gutsy cover of Hall & Oates "You Make My Dreams Come True" by Underwater Country Club .   Gutsy in the sense that Darryl Hall is hard to replicate and Hall & Oates songs are just way harder to play than most people recognize.  But really, for Underwater Country Club, it wasn't gutsy at all, it's just sort of what they do.  Brothers Andrew Robinson & Skip Robinson with cohorts Anthony Coppa and Jack Zaferes are gearing up to take the Philly scene over, show by show, song by song.  With somewhat of a reckless abandon, they play their style of rock 'n roll with a confidence that most bands wish they had. The foursome has a new batch of songs they are so very ready to put out to the world.  Add that to their road-tested back catalog including their 2013 EP and they have a killer showcase ready for new fans and old fans alike to hear.  Brand new song "Heat Seeking Missile", captured at ...

The concept of a cover song video series is nothing new.  However you have to have something special to make it stick.  For Root Down In The Shadow in honor of our deep love of the Philly scene, we've made sure our cover videos are Philly-centric.  Other famous cover series each have their own special element.  For the Onion's AV Undercover , they start with a list of bands to be covered and unveil the surprise cover artist week by week.  For UK band, To Kill A King 's series, Ralph's Balcony , the videos are a collaboration between Ralph Pelleymounter &/or To Kill A King, plus their special guest, learning each other's songs.  The most prolific may be Live At Daryl's House , the infamous session where bands come to Daryl Hall 's house and record some songs together with Daryl and his all star cast of session musicians. At Cover Club we never intended to copy any series' specific style, but if we had to take one thing from any of these sessions,...

  Welcome back to Cover Club.  This week we premiered the popular Our Griffins cover of Strand of Oaks "Last To Swim" .  The emotional cover was spread about the internet by favorite sites, WXPN 's The Key , Philebrity , The Deli Magazine - Philadelphia , and Swollen Fox .  This type of publicity for Our Griffins is soon to be the norm.  This year has been a steady climb upwards, for the band.  Opening at Johnny Brenda's for Lost In The Trees , a trip to SXSW , opening for Kishi Bashi & Buried Beds at the TLA , and night-cap slot at the fun Communion Club Night at Underground Arts are just a few examples of Our Griffins' hot shows.  This Friday, they play the Former Belle release show at Bourbon & Branch with Maitland and Jeremiah Tall.  And for what quite possibly is their most exciting show yet, in late July they play the incredible XPoNential Festival .    Our Griffins at Johnny Brenda's - Photo Dan McGurk ...

You would think for Cover Club, a series based on covers, that it might be heavily influenced with what might be popular with viewers.  However, that's the least of the considerations for the amazingly respectful Philadelphia bands doing these Philly-centric covers, celebrating their scene.  Some choices are born from days shared on the road, like Joe Fletcher with Toy Soldiers or Aaron Brown covering Allison Polans/Paper Trees .  There are instances from days shared in the studio, such as Kevin Killen covering Ben Arnold .  In some cases, the songs chosen are based simply on mutual love of Ween shared between Root Down In The Shadow and the cover artists including Brian Strouse & Vanessa Winters or The Fleeting Ends. For today's session, the path to the cover started as a fan catching shows.  Alex Luquet of Our Griffins told Root Down In The Shadow all the details:  "The first time I saw Strand of Oaks was two years ago at Union Tran...

#CoverClub 2.0 @Nomad Recording Studio by #CoverClub * As The Root Down In The Shadow #CoverClub team starts to unveil it's latest sessions and plan the next session, it's time to release some of this killer audio for your downloading pleasure. The Bernhardt Family Band - Photo by Bob Sweeney The sessions recorded in January back at Nomad Recording Studio feature Sean Hoots, The Bernhardt Family Band, Up The Chain, and Dominic Angelella of DRGN KING. The set includes 3 unreleased originals and only 1 previously released track. Covers on the download include Toy Soldiers and The Lawsuits. If we can get a release to include the Sean Hoots/BoyzIImen cover or Dominic Angelella's Dead Milkmen cover we'll add it asap! Keep an eye out for more tracks from our Breakneck Studios session 2.0 including Mat Burke, Levee Drivers, Lucy Stone, and Leaf & Tree. While the first sessions are set up as #FreeDownload currently on SoundCloud for Breakneck Studios session ...

The final #CoverClub entry from Nomad Recording Studios session 2.0 is here at last.  We're proud to present Up The Chain covering The Lawsuits .  Rounding out an intense line-up of Sean Hoots covering Boyz II Men 'It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday' , DRGN KING 's Dominic Angelella covering the iconic Dead Milkmen , and The Bernhardt Family Band covering Toy Soldiers, Up The Chain takes on the most challenging cover of the session. Originally known as "Walk You Home", the song was originally a track by the Lawsuits frontman Brian Dale Allen Strouse on his solo release Peace, Turkey!, "Walk You Home" is one of many love songs written by Brian Strouse through the years and featuring Brian on piano with a little harmonica.  Unfortunately, the song was not well-known as the album was overshadowed by the more successful Lawsuits release Darleen , put out in the same time period.   Here's the original track by Brian Dale Allen Str...

Wednesday March 12th, The Bernhardt Family Band will be on at World Cafe Live with The Keys , The Dawn Drapes and August John Lutz II (of Levee Drivers ).  To get you ready for the show, we move up #CoverClub a day early, as we release an original track by The Bernhardt Family Band.   Outside of a few rough videos on the net, there is limited info about the band Kate Bernhardt & Jerry Bernhardt have formed.  So, to prevent from any further missing-out on this band, here is an interview with Kate and their original song "Moonlight" recorded at Nomad Recording Studios for Cover Club. The Bernhardt Family Band "Moonlight" Some folks will be surprised to find you listed on the liner notes for Ali Wadsworth's album, any other surprise credits to know about? We did some harmonies for Ron Gallo ’s solo project last fall, so that’s in the works. Jerry recorded on Mike McMonagle ’s album a few months ago and did a keyboard session with Chris Kasper ,...

Welcome back to # CoverClub .  This week we are rotating back to Nomad Recording Studio , after last week's session at Breakneck Recording Studio with Lucy Stone covering Cruiser .   We pick up where we left off at Nomad continuing to release sessions from a very snowy January weekend.  So far, we've hit you with  Sean Hoots covering Boyz II Men 'It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday' and DRGN KING 's Dominic Angelella covering the iconic Dead Milkmen .   This week we introduce to you, The Bernhardt Family Band:  Cover Club | Bernhardt Family Band  'Tomorrow to Today' (Toy Soldiers) Photo by Bob Sweeney Truly a "family band" Kate Bernhardt & Jerry Bernhardt have been crafting "blood harmonies" for years.  Dubbed "Bernhardt Family Band" by Ron Gallo ( Toy Soldiers front-man, soloist, and all around show-man), it's no coincidence that they chose to cover Toy Soldiers.  Kate explains, "We ha...

On Monday we were thrilled to unveil the Dominic Angelella (DRGN King) solo cover of the Dead Milkmen hit "Punk Rock Girl".  Recorded on a treacherous winter day back in January, it was hard to keep the excitement of the session under wraps for the last month.  The song was recorded in one take and it was one of those thrilling recording moments, when you know you just saw/heard something incredible. DominicAngelella recording his #CoverClub session at Nomad Recording Studios Excitement and anticipation seem to be two key themes for DRGN King these days.  Just over a year since Paragraph Nights, the band filled up the year in between with solid touring, playing XPoNential Festival , and recording a Daytrotter Session . The anticipation is palpable as new music is never out of the plans future reality for DRGN King.  "Saint Toms'" is part of the new material that Dominic Angelella and Ritz Reynolds are working on.  This still untitled second a...

Welcome back to # CoverClub .  This week's video continues our 2nd session at Nomad Recording Studios .  We kicked things off two weeks ago, with Sean Hoots covering Boyz II Men 'It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday' and soon we have two more sessions to unveil while we alternate with videos from our 2nd session at Breakneck Studios. This week we unveil a session featuring Dominic Angelella of DRGN KING.  When the idea of #PhillyPresents and #CoverClub were being kicked around, Dominic was one of the first artists approached.  "What would you think about talking about other Philly bands you dig, for Root Down In The Shadow?"  Once Dominic lit up, totally stoked about the idea of sharing his enjoyment of his co-conspirators, it was a forgone conclusion that #PhillyPresents would happen.  Now that Philly Presents has branched out to include Cover Club, it had to involve DRGN KING.  The band formed by Dominic and Ritz Reynolds would certainly be ...

Earlier this week we revealed the Sean Hoots solo cover of the BoyzIIMen hit 'It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday'.  In just a few days, the video has already crept near the top of our most played #CoverClub videos.  It was during a winter session three weeks ago at Nomad Recording Studio where Sean Hoots also recorded an original song with the working title 'Move Me.'  Even in the raw state that is presented via Cover Club; 'Move Me' has the rare quality of being a song you feel well acquainted with within seconds of hearing it. Cover Club | Sean Hoots "Move Me"  'Move Me' is amongst a collection of songs Hoots & Hellmouth are working on fine tuning in the next several weeks in preparation for an upcoming release.  It's possible it could be played in the annual Valentine's Day shows at Tin Angel .  For sure, you'll hear it during their residency in May at Boot & Saddle . Sean Hoots has been busy remove...

Our first release from the 2.0 Session of Cover Club at Nomad Recording Studio features the boundless Sean Hoots .  Sean Hoots had been on the Root Down In The Shadow radar since catching him for the first time at the March 2013 Sofar Sounds Philadelphia show !  Since a well-rounded knowledge of the Philadelaphia music scene is certainly incomplete with knowing Sean Hoots and/or Hoots and Hellmouth .  Sean was a natural choice to include on the series.  'It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday' was first made famous in the 70's by G. C. Camerson and it was later re-popularized by the legendary Philly R&B outfit Boyz II Men in the 90's.  When he first moved to Philly eight years ago, Sean moved across the street from the creative arts high school where Boyz II Men, the Roots and many others started years ago.  It's no surprise then how Sean feels about the aforementioned tune: "The a capella Boyz II Men version had always really struck me....

Earlier this year here at the indie Philly blog, Root Down In The Shadow, we started the fun series #Philly Presents ...bands writing about other bands. The most common reaction from bands to this project: "Wait? Are we covering other bands?" And so #CoverClub was born!   The first sessions for #CoverClub were recorded in October, at the intimate Break Neck Studio under the sonic helm of Peter Joseph!   With the excitement over the series we couldn't contain ourselves, but couldn't continuously steal Peter.  Nomad Recording Studio graciously offered to be our alternate studio for the series and we quickly lined up more bands.  With Rob Swift and Tom Williamson of Nomad Recording Studio, the Session 1.0 includes Aaron Brown of Aaron & The Spell, Ron Gallo of Toy Soldiers, The Rivals and the Fleeting Ends!  The posts here at Root Down In The Shadow have been a blast to do, featuring the excellent videos by director Bob Sweeney assisted...

Earlier this week we released the incredible recreation of  Ween 's 'Tried and True' by the Fleeting Ends for #COVERCLUB !  The gritty version, done at Nomad Recording Studio, was a wonderful reminder that they are more than just alt-pop-rock wizards, but that they can seriously rock! Cover Club | The FleetingEnds "I Feel Cursed" To complete the #CoverClub session one of the many hits from Our Eyes Are Peeled , 'I Feel Cursed' was captured.  This Cover Club session recorded in December was the wrap of a really killer year for the band.  "2013 was a big year for us only because of Our Eyes Are Peeled . It landed us fantastic publications in Magent Magazine , Modern Drummer and many more.  Took us out on the road and got us into gear for future touring.  Local support has been fantastic.  Especially from WXPN .  We played this summers Xponential fest and it was by far the best day the band has ever had. Our Eyes Are Peeled   shot us i...