Root Down in the Shadow

It's Monday morning, so it must be time for #CoverClub.  This week's video with Lucy Stone brings us back to sonic haven Break Neck Studios where we unveil our 3rd artist from our Session 2.0 .  So far we've had the Levee Drivers covering Chris Kasper and Mat Burke covering the Menzingers .  Stay tuned this week for a killer Lucy Stone original and in the next two weeks we will have DEBUT VIDEOS for two Philadelphia artists! Philadelphia rising stars Lucy Stone, did a great job with their cover of Cruiser .  It was such a great match for them that at first I didn't realize it wasn't their song.  First off, both bands do a killer job of putting out great authentic pop including Lucy Stone - Would You? EP and Cruiser - Cruier EP .  To confuse matters more, in the fall when I was preparing for some work with up & coming artists including Lucy Stone & Cruiser I mixed them in with a few other promising artists including Folk-Americana bands Elijah ...

*At Johnny Brenda's opening for Lost In The Trees* On a dreary Tuesday night in Philadelphia one of the best things you can do is go see some live music.  The amazing benefit of being in a city with such a huge population and an amazing depth of musical talent, is that you can easily find a "local" artist opening at most shows.  The promoter to band connection works extremely well in matching up Philly area bands with artists that are coming through town, a situation that would not happen in a majority of the cities across the country.  On this particular Tuesday, Our Griffins came down from the Lehigh Valley to support the tour of Lost In The Trees and  All Tiny Creatures.    On the day Lost In The Trees released their new album Past Life , they were also treated to some amazing Philly talent with Our Griffins starting off the night at Johnny Brenda's . Our Griffins played just six songs, but did a great job to impress the crowd.   New so...

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...

Band Name : Chris Kasper Style: Singer/Songwriter - Roots/ Blues/ Americana Years on the Scene : I moved here from West Virginia in 2004 and put out FlyingBoy in 2006. Current projects and/or members : In Sept 2013, I released the 4th Chris Kasper record entitled Bagabones The band included Kiley Ryan , Phil D'Agostino , and Daniel Bower . Kiley and I also released a collaborative record of original songs titled Foxhound in June 2013. This coming year we have a Daytrotter session in March as well as a film idea we're pursuing. Most unique show: Most unique show was probably Sunrise Set at The Frendly Gathering Festival in Windsor, VT.  It's a summer fest run by professional snowboarders Jack Matrini and Danny Davis . It's held at a defunct ski resort and they invited us to play at the top of the mountain during sunrise. At 4AM Jack and Danny met us at the bottom with an ATV Mule Gator thing. We held on for dear life and they gunned it straight u...

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 ...

On Tuesday, the Menzingers released their new album Rented World !  While they are looking forward with their new release, we looked back to On the Impossible Past as we revealed the Mat Burke cover of the Menzingers favorite 'Mexican Guitars'.   The Menzingers who now call Philadelphia home are from Scranton, which just happens to be where Mat Burke grew up. Mat Burke is also working on new material.   His new album, Still Bleeding is in the final mixing stages working with Brian Strouse and Josh Friedman of the Lawsuits . To get familiar with Mat Burke and his upcoming work you can start with his Cover Club session original "Box Of Pine," recorded at Break Neck Studios in Newtown, Pa.  This new single was written about a tour with pals Levee Drivers.   Mat pours out his emotions on this solo track born of frustrations being out on the road. Cover Club | Mat Burke "Box Of Pine" Mat will also be gracing some local stages very soon.  Th...

Ron Gallo, AS​-​IS: Live at Kettle Pot Tracks is not at all what it seems. This new release recorded at Kettle Pot Tracks ’ Lafayette Hill studio in December 2013 is not a follow-up to Ron Gallo ’s 2013 solo release Live at Ortlieb's: an in-venue live recording. It is not the Toy Soldiers front-man’s solo project with producer Reed Kendall , coming later this spring with a full band.  AS​-​IS: Live at Kettle Pot Tracks is neither of those. A S​-​IS: Live at Kettle Pot Tracks is the must-share by-product of a solo On The Hill Session with the Kettle Pot Tracks. This stripped-down release marks the first physical release from the Kettle Pot Tracks after a year of stellar digital releases of their sessions. To the unaware listener, what we have is an incredible collection of 1940s standards. Turns out, only one of them is. “Early in the Morning” reigns from that era, but ironically Ron Gallo's inspiration is from the 1970s Harry Nilsson version, rather than 1940s jazz-m...