Win FREE Tickets to See Face to Face This Wednesday

When I was 15 my Dad bribed me into getting better grades at school by promising to take me to see No Doubt in concert at the end of the year. This was right after Tragic Kingdom was released and No Doubt was at the height of their success. They played a huge sold out show at the Palace with the most legendary lineup of openers that I can remember. The show was with Rocket From the Crypt, Face to Face, Weezer and No Doubt. It’s rare to see a huge show like this with such a solid lineup.
All four bands found their own success and have continued making music and touring. Since this first encounter I have seen every one of these acts preform again, except for Face to Face. I have never been able to catch them and watch them play, but I have over-listened to their 1996 self-titled album for the last 15 years in anticipation of seeing them again one day. I feared after their split in 2004 that I may never get my second chance to see them, but thankfully the girls at Black Iris Booking are always on top of their game and are finally bringing these gentlemen back to Detroit this Wednesday, June 19.

Face to Face will be headlining at the Magic Stick along with Teenage Bottlerocket, Blacklist Royals and Joshua Black Wilkins. This show is $20 in advance and $23 at the door. I personally believe that this show is worth every penny, but thanks to Black Iris booking we are able to give two people a chance to bring a friend and see the show for free. To enter, please email us at hipindetroit@gmail.com with your name and the subject line 'I Want To See Face To Face'. Remember to include your full name in the email so we know who to put on the list. If you would like to be entered into the drawing twice, take an extra second and Instagram, Tweet or Facebook us the hash tag #IWANTTOSEEFACETOFACE. If you enter via social media we will put your name in the hat twice when we pull out the winners, doubling your chances of getting picked. This is going to be a night to remember and getting in for free would be the icing on the cake! Good luck and remember to check back for more Black Iris booking giveaways throughout the summer.

~S

Bring Your Banjo & Your Buddies to The Hand In The Ocean's Record Release Show!!!

 

This Saturday at The Berkley Front The Hand In The Ocean is having their Album Release Show. This is the second album from the trio and the guys seem pretty excited about it. They recently snuck in to the Belle Isle Zoo to shoot a video for "Recompressed" off the new release, entitled Tree/Forts. You can check that out below.

The Hand In The Ocean // Recompressed // Live at Belle Isle Zoo from Jeremy Dulac on Vimeo.

The seven song EP will be given to you with admission to the show on Saturday along with a screen printed poster. If you liked what you heard in the video above, you can also head over to their bandcamp for another sneak preview of the song "White Noise" which is available for download.

Joining The Hand In The Ocean on Saturday to celebrate their release is Gun Lake, Greater Alexander and Flint Eastwood, who will be playing a very special acoustic set.They are all working hard to get ready for Saturday and are so excited about it that they even made a promo video! Most of the details about the show in there, but we still want to tell you that The Berkley Front is located at 3087 West 12 Mile Rd in Berkley, the show is at 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, and those 21 and up are welcome. We'll leave the rest of the details to the band. So check out this promo!

~C

Here's to 20 More Years, Rancid!

 

Tuesday night at The Fillmore, Rancid kicked off their 20th Anniversary tour to a packed house. The band looked a bit older, with Tim and Lars' bald heads where mohawks and liberty spikes once stood years ago. However, the crowd was a bit older too, which meant the stench of punk rock was not quite as strong as I remember it being in the past.

Rancid started their set out with "Radio" and ended the night with "Ruby Soho". They played an awesome show including most of the fan favorites and a few less well known. At one point or another, they played pretty much everything off of ..And Out Come The Wolves, with many of the tracks knocked out right at the beginning of the night. Although they played plenty of newer songs too, the older definitely out-weighed them.

 

Something that I was extremely happy about, was that although the crowd was singing along, the band still sang the songs. It gets so old when you go to see someone play that you have been listening to for years and rather than singing along with the crowd, the band just doesn't really sing at all, especially during the hits. Luckily that wasn't the case at this show. And Tim and Lars, and even Matt on a song, were all great. Although appearances may have changed some over the years, Tim still has his notable, slurry, punk rock voice that we have all loved for years. 

Some other happenings of the night worth mentioning include a pretty great set by The Transplants, which meant Tim Armstrong pulled double duty for the night. And it also means Travis Barker was there on the drums. Girls, the answer is yes... Travis is still hot. Also, during Rancid's set the guys mentioned that they just finished a new album. So hopefully it is as good as all of the others.

Overall, Tuesday night's show was a great time, full of familiar songs and familiar faces. Rancid will be out on tour for most of the summer and then will go out again for some dates in September. Although they won't be heading back to Detroit in the foreseeable future, they are on the lineup for Riot Fest in Chicago, which is just a car ride away.

Even though Rancid even played "Detroit" on Tuesday, there was one song on my list that I didn't get to hear. I'm probably the only one in the crowd that was bummed they didn't play it and I'm sure I will get shit for this. Not exactly the craziest Rancid song, but still one of my favorites.

 ~C

Win Tickets To See Silent Lions Tomorrow Night!

A little while ago at the Ferndale weekend of the Blowout we finally had the pleasure of seeing Silent Lions play live. They were easily one of our favorites all weekend. I wasn't sure how it would be live with all the effects and things they have in their music, but it's even better. When they contacted us awhile ago about doing a review, I immediately fell in love with them and couldn't stop listening to their music as you can see in my totally not biased at all review.

Silent Lions are from Toledo, but they do have some connections here in our fair city of Detroit, so we get to see them from time to time. The 'spooky soul' band is made up of Dean Tartaglia (The Sights) and Matt Klein. Check out our interview below with the guys at the Blowout. Hopefully Dean is feeling all better now!

Friday night we are all getting another chance to catch Silent Lions here while they are out on the first leg of their tour. They are playing at the Majestic Cafe this Friday, June 14 at 9 p.m. Technically, it is the Jack Oblivian show with special guests The Sheiks and Silent Lions, but we're mostly excited the Ohioans are back! Tickets cost $10 and it is an all ages show.

However, since we just love giving you all tickets to awesome shows, and because the people at the Majestic are amazing, we are giving one lucky person a pair of tickets to get into this awesome show for free! To win yourself some free tickets, all you have to do is send us an email at hipindetroit@gmail.com with your full name and 'I Want To See Silent Lions' in the subject line. You don't have much time and it's that easy to do, so hurry up and enter! If you missed out on seeing them at the Blowout, listen to those of us that didn't and get your butts down to the Majestic Cafe tomorrow night! We'll draw the winner Friday morning, the day of the show. Good luck and make sure to check out their new tune here!

~B

Touch The Clouds - Win Free Tickets and More!

We finally caught up with Touch the Clouds a few weeks ago at the Destroy This Place record release party and had a great time at the show. They are definitely talented musicians who know how to write and perform. Since three parts of the band are from Few and Far Between we never doubted that we would love this new project and were not surprised when we heard the songs and felt it was music to our ears.

Now it’s their chance to release their first album and they were kind enough to invite us to get some of our readers in the door for free. Touch the Clouds is releasing their new album this Saturday, June 15th at Small's in Hamtramck. They have teamed up with Disinformants and Isosceles Mountain to bring you a night of solid tunes. They have also given us three prize packs to give away to three lucky winners. These prize packs include your name on the guest list plus one, a copy of their new album/EP, a t-shirt featuring the band and a few stickers and buttons. These are the biggest prize packs that anyone has given us a chance to hand out and we couldn't be happier about it.

The show starts at 8 p.m. and admission is $7 at the door. That money gets you in the door and a copy of the new album. To enter to win the prize pack, just email us at hipindetroit@gmail.com with your name and the subject line #IWantToTouchTheClouds. We will draw the winners the morning of the show and they will pick up their prize packs at the event. Come out and support them this Saturday!

~S

A Moment with Chris Jarvis from Phantasmagoria

Yesterday we posted an interview with James Linck who is releasing his album alongside Phantasmagoria at St. Andrew's this Saturday, June 15. Today we got a chance to ask Chris Jarvis from Phantasmagoria about the album release, their recent performance at Movement and his top three musical inspirations. I fell a little more in love with Chris when I read about our shared love and respect for Nirvana. Playing Movement was a huge milestone for Chris and Lianna, and we hope that it is a sign of bigger and better things to come. They received a lot of good press after their performance and hopefully finally caught your attention.

This little hustler and his friends are definitely taking over and redefining the Detroit scene. In fact, the show was supposed to be upstairs in the new room at St. Andrew's, but quickly got moved downstairs into the main room. Someone must have heard that they will pack the place and get people dancing! Here's to better days and doing Illuminati stuff. Congratulations on your album release!

HipInDetroit- Please tell us about your experience playing Movement this year.

Chris- "It was great. It’s been a dream and goal of mine for a long time so it was a pretty awesome feeling accomplishing that. Also we got amazing free food and drinks, I spent a lot of time there..."

HipInDetroit- Why did you name the album Dayze?

Chris- "All I’ll say is it’s a play on the words “days” and “daze.” The rest of the concept is for the listener to interpret."

HipInDetroit- Phantasmagoria has released two singles off of the album so far. How do you decide what tracks you will release early?

Chris- "We’ve actually released 3, but we just released whatever songs were finished first. At first we weren’t even going to do an album. We were kind of sick of the whole process so we were just going to release a bunch of singles, but I still love the album format so we ended up doing it anyway."

HipInDetroit- How do you think your music has grown and changed from the first release?

Chris- "It’s grown and changed in almost every single way. From the way it was written, recorded, produced to the sounds I used and more importantly the sounds I didn’t use. We got out of the computer this time and used almost all sounds we recorded ourselves or took from our field recordings. We used hardly any soft synths or sequenced synths. Everything was played live."

HipInDetroit- Where was this album recorded and produced?

Chris- "Mostly in our basement. We did a few impromptu recording sessions with our friends in random places just jamming out that we used on the album."

HipInDetroit- You teamed up with James Linck to do a dual album release. You also play with James when he performs live, so the obvious question is what is the most embarrassing James Linck story you can share with us?

Chris- "That’s hard to say. James is a smooth guy, he pulls stuff off that I never could and even when shit goes down he just shrugs it off, I can’t remember ever seeing him embarrassed. The first thing that comes to mind though is him getting headbutted in the face at like 6 a.m. after a drunken argument. I had to break it up, it was pretty funny. I won’t say who the argument was between but James definitely got a punch in too."

HipInDetroit- What is your favorite show from the last six months?

Chris- "Besides Movement it’s a tie between two shows I just saw this weekend. Mount Kimbie & Holy Other, and Baths, Houses, & D33J. Blew my fuckin mind what they are doing with electronic music. Seriously next level shit, makes me want to step my game up!"

HipInDetroit- First concert you ever went to?

Chris- "I think it was Blink 182 and New Found Glory when I was in like 6th grade. It was at DTE and as my uncle and I were walking down the steps to the mens bathroom a drunk girl was stumbling down the stairs next to us. My uncle tried to inform her that the womens bathroom was the other way and she puked all over my bare leg."

HipInDetroit- Three most influential artists in your life and why?

Chris- "Radiohead - my dad got me into them at an early age, he used to play The Bends and OK Computer for me all the time in the mid-late 90s and I was really into it. Then Kid A came out and he thought it was weird and wasn’t really into it but that’s when I absolutely fell in love with them and couldn’t get enough. I couldn’t believe or understand the sounds they were making."

Nirvana - Nevermind was one of the first cassettes I owned. My uncle was living with us when it came out and he had a huge cassette and CD collection that I would go through and listen to random things. That’s how I discovered Nevermind and I ended up listening to it so much and so frequently that he just gave it to me.

Boards Of Canada - This is the group that really got me into electronic music when I was in high school. We had a radio station at our school and I was in that class. Every morning we played all electronic music on the air for an hour and all the kids in the class took turns DJing. At first I hated it because I wasn’t really into electronic music but I discovered a few gems and started to get really into it. I probably owe my love for electronic music to that class. We had a small selection of minidiscs (remember those?) to choose from so I got to know the music really well after a while. Things like Boards of Canada, Daft Punk, Aphex Twin, Portishead, Massive Attack, Moby. It would usually be me and a friend of mine DJing and we’d turn off all the lights and just vibe out, or we’d bring in a disco ball or other flashing lights and have a straight up dance party in the studio at like 7 a.m. haha! But BOC was the first artist that I really got lost in and thought “I want to make music that makes people feel this way.”"

HipInDetroit- What is your favorite place to play in Detroit right now?

Chris- I don’t know. I’m kind of sick of playing everywhere. I like playing sketchy parties where everyone is friends and really fucked up and getting weird to the music.

HipInDetroit- Where do you see Phantasmagoria in a year?

Chris- I have no idea. That’s kind of a tough question to answer right now. Hopefully famous as shit, poppin bottles with Jay Z and doing Illuminati stuff.


The show is 18 plus and is $5 at the door. St. Andrews is located at 431 E. Congress Detroit MI.

~S

Presenting The Talented and Witty James Linck

After months of anticipation, James Linck and Phantasmagoria have finally set a record release date for both of their albums. In fact, they have teamed up with Lord Scrummage, Coyote Clean Up and Doc Waffles to release both of their albums together this Saturday, June 15th in The Burns Room (upstairs in St. Andrew's Hall in Detroit). I sat down to write the promo for this event and realized that I’m sick of telling you how amazing both of these acts are. The truth is they are doing new things that no one else is and it's awesome and worth checking out.

James Linck is one of the weirdest and most charming people I have ever met. He's cocky and timid at the same time, and when he smiles, sings, or does this weird little shuffle dance on stage my heart is filled with happiness. I danced like an idiot at his Metro Times Blowout show and I wore my boyfriend out listening to his album before it was even mastered. I realized the best way to sell James is to let James sell himself. I got the chance to ask him a few questions and when I read his responses I felt myself smiling the same little smile I have when I hear his music. There is just something about this guy, something amazing.

HipInDetroit- How does it feel to be releasing your first record as a solo artist? 
James- "Awesome cause I've had this fucker done for a while and I got a new one on deck that's real personal and I feel paralyzed."

HipInDetroit- We heard and fell in love with a sneak peak of the album a few months ago before it went in to be mastered. How did the process of mastering the album turn out? Are you happy with the finished product? Would you change anything if you could? 
James- "Zach Shipps did a great job mastering it and I gave him a hard time about it and he didn't even care and did a million revisions cause I'm a diva bout that shit.. sounds kinda treblely in my van but I think shit just sounds treblely in my van and treblely is not a real word.. I wouldn't change anything. I kept telling him to make it sparkle more and he did."

HipInDetroit- What's your favorite song to perform live? 
James- ""Since 84” cause the girl I wrote it about never comes to my shows."

HipInDetroit- Each time we see you preform the audience is gets bigger and bigger. What is your favorite live show from the past few months and why? 
James- "The party at Nick Chevillet's house a couple weeks ago cause everybody sang the WOO'S in get this money.. also Jumbo's before that cause mic write walked in right as his verse was bout to start and it was magical.. and JP FROM THE HP sang Lion King songs in his set.. also blowout cause I love Brent and Bryan and Tunde and Doc Waffles and Ferndale."

HipInDetroit- Three biggest musical inspirations?  
James- "Bob Dylan cause he's a dickhead, Marvin Gaye cause he's sexy, and John Lennon cause he's a dickhead and sexy."

HipInDetroit- How do you keep your hair looking so fly? 
James- "Bar soap and whatever shampoo my roommate buys and stress to keep those grays coming in."

HipInDetroit- Are you an ass or titties man? 
James- "I'm in love with most girls no matter how they look.. unless they have annoying voices then I'll prob just make out with you if I'm drunk."

HipInDetroit- Where do you see James Linck in a year? 
James- "I dunno I hope I fall in love and write beautiful songs about it."

The show starts at 9 p.m., costs $5 at the door and 18 plus are welcome.

~S

Orion - A Legendary Weekend In Music and In Detroit

This past weekend Orion Music & More headed to Detroit. The festival, put on by Metallica, is in its second year, with the first in Atlantic City, NJ and this year in its new and hopefully permanent home on Belle Isle. Throughout the week leading up to the event, Detroit was full of both speculation and excitement. No one was quite sure what to expect, but once the Instagram scavenger hunts for 2-Day passes began, the hype grew and we were all ready to see what this fest was all about.

Friday night there were two Pre-Parties for Orion, one at St. Andrew's Hall featuring Baroness and Coliseum. The other, which we chose to attend, was at The Majestic Theatre with The Orwells, The Bronx and Chevy Metal (featuring Taylor Hawkins of Foo Fighters). On our way to the show, word quickly began pouring in that Metallica actually showed up to the St. Andrew's show to introduce Baroness, which quickly improved our opinion of the legendary band. We were hoping they would show up at our show too, but that never happened.

Regardless, we were thrilled with our pick for the night! The Bronx fuckin' rocked, as they always do. We are afraid the band may have been a little disappointed in the crowd, as not too many turned out, but that just means the next time they head to town we have to show them an even better time. 

Chevy Metal headlined the show and proclaimed themselves the "wedding band from hell" which was a pretty accurate description. They played a ton of favorites from the 70s and 80s and joked with the crowd, which made it seem like we really were just hanging out and partying together. Taylor is amazing on the drums, so that in itself was entertaining. Needless to say, after Friday night we were really looking forward to what the weekend would bring.

Once Saturday morning rolled around, Orion was already a legendary concert, but not exactly for the right reasons. Reports were filling social media, talking about 3 hour lines for tickets, super long waits for shuttles, and complaints about fans missing the bands they wanted to see. People were pissed and their opinions of this festival were not so great. Luckily, by the end of the weekend the concert goers' views changed and we started hearing words like "epic", "legendary" and "music history" get thrown around by everyone we talked to.

Photo Courtesy of Orion Music & More - Credit: Dave Rodriguez

So what made this festival so "epic"? The list is long! Amazing lineup, perfect weather, fans from all over the country and the world... let's just say Metallica knows how to put on one hell of a party!

Our day on Saturday started off pretty awesome. We got a later start, but lucky for us, that meant we walked right up for our tickets, got right on a shuttle, and started our day off by walking up to Metallica playing a secret show, on one of the smallest stages on the island, under the code name Dehaan. The band played "Kill 'Em All" in it's entirety, which was a once in a lifetime experience for the 1,000-ish fans that were lucky enough to witness it. Throughout the set more and more fans kept walking up in disbelief.

Orion Music & More - Credit:Dave Mead

Next up we wandered around to get the vibe of the whole festival. The stages were spaced far enough apart that they weren't interfering with each other, yet they were close enough that you could get from one to the next quick enough to see the bands you wanted to catch. There were a ton of people, but it was open enough that you weren't traveling in herds. Belle Isle is seriously a beautiful place for a concert like this!

Orion Music & More - Credit: Jack Edinger

The vast array of music on Orion brought together a wide variety of fans, but also allowed attendees the chance to check out all sorts of music. For instance, we officially checked out our first EDM show, with Bassnectar, which was something we probably wouldn't have done otherwise. But, it was fun, good people watching and LOUD! We definitely get the appeal now.






Some other highlights of Saturday were hanging with our good friends in Wilson, checking out Rise Against, FLAG and Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Orion Music & More - Credit: Dave Mead

Orion Music & More - Credit: Cambria Harkey

Orion Music & More - Credit: Dave Rodriguez

Day 2 of Orion was pretty great as well! We didn't hear any complaints like the day before. In fact, most people made it sounds like it was smooth sailing!

The masses were excited about the big names of the day, Deftones, Gogol Bordello and (of course) Metallica.
On the other hand, we were really looking forward to seeing someone else. Rocket From The Crypt! And we weren't the only ones! James Hetfield came out before the band's set to personally introduce them as a band he loves and was excited to see. Pretty amazing! Several of the bands of Orion were in the somewhat small crowd to check these guys out, as were many of Detroit's favorite musicians. You would never have been able to tell that RFTC took a break for several years and have only played a handful of shows since their return. They were super entertaining and as cliche as it sounds, they didn't miss a beat. We hope they keep it up and stick around for awhile! (We also think they need to tour with Mariachi El Bronx, since they have very similar taste in clothes!)

Orion ended with a pretty amazed crowd that enjoyed pyrotechnics and Metallica - on an island, in Detroit, with their friends. It definitely made for a monumental experience and a weekend that none of us will ever forget. Yeah, there were a few kinks that needed to be worked out, but hopefully those won't be an issue in the upcoming years,  because at the end of the night James  Hetfield announced  that Orion will be held in Detroit again next year.

Orion Music & More - Credit: Cambria Harkey

Despite the problems, there were tons of things that Orion did right. As we said, the location was awesome as were the bands. But, there was more to it than that. Between bands, there was plenty to check out, with Kirk's Crypt, the Metallica Museum, a car show, films and pro-skaters.

The food court was full of Detroit favorites like Slow's and Mercury Bar, all decently priced. There were plenty of bars, so you didn't have to wait long for a drink and you didn't have to pay as much as at most events. Everything was kept clean, mostly because of a promotion that Orion put on awarding fans a free shirt if they went around and picked up a whole bag of recyclables. A great idea to prevent trashing the island and a good way to keep people occupied if there wasn't someone they wanted to see at that second.

Overall Orion Music & More was a success and a blast in our book. It's well worth the $150 for a 2 Day Pass. As many people pointed out, they've paid that much to see just one band on the bill in the past, whether it was Deftones, Metallica or RHCP. We hope everyone else had as great of an experience as we did. And, even more so, we can't wait to do it again next year!

 ~C

Boot Camp is Back, Let's Get Fit Together!

It has come to my attention that a lot of you would like to try boot camp, but might be a little nervous or not sure what to expect. Let me take a step back to about a year ago when I started attending a boot camp in a park in Royal Oak with local trainer Mark Culpepper. A few friends and I met a couple of times a week for an intense workout outside in the fresh air. We had a blast and by the end of the summer I was in the best shape that I had been in years. I continued personal training with Mark over the winter and a few weeks ago boot camp started back up in full swing. He has anywhere from 3-4 public boot camps a week and sets up private ones for small groups that want a more low key setting. My friends and I took advantage of both the public and the private sessions and had a great time while doing so.

This year he has launched a new website and has a running calendar on the site so that you can check what time classes are each week. It has never been easier to try something new, but I hear that a lot of people do not know what to expect. So I decided I would fill you in on what it is and where is it, but it is still up to you to come and get your butt moving.

Boot camp is a one hour training session with a group that is instructed by personal trainer Mark Culpepper. It mixes cardio with strength and gives you a full body workout in an hour, including stretching. We do everything from your standard crunch to different types of jump squats, lunges, walkouts and all sorts of new moves that Mark brings to the table every week. I burn an average of 500 calories a session, but have burned up to 700 and as low as 400 on slower days. A lot of the workouts are timed so that newbies don't have to feel bad about only getting four crunches in the first time that they do it. We all have to start somewhere. Half the battle is showing up and trying.

When participating, the best items to bring are a towel, a water bottle, good shoes, and $10. You will only be there for an hour and when you are done you will feel so good about how much you accomplished in such a short time. This is a class for people who are in it to learn, have fun and get in shape. No judgement or shitty attitudes in this crowd. You will be so sore the first time you try it, the second time you won't, and the third time you'll notice a change. If you put in the effort you will see results fast and it'll be worth the initial kick in the ass.

You can find a complete list of upcoming sessions on his calendar here. The VFW park that we meet in is located at 798 South Campbell Road, Royal Oak. It's time to stop being scared or nervous and it's time to start getting in shape. Or as Mark would say, “get pissed and workout."

~S

Win Some Swag Courtesy of Fountain Records!

Small, independent record labels are the backbone of the music industry. They provide a much needed service that helps get smaller bands music out to larger groups and put new music on the map. They have released quite a few albums including music by The Rich Hands, Kenny Turick, The Sights, Ohio Knife and Instant Party. Fountain Records is a Detroit based record company that has given us a unique opportunity to help put some of their products in your hands.

Ohio Knife is coming to town June 12th to play a free show at the Garden Bowl with New Swears. Everyone knows that the Garden Bowl at the Magic Stick has some of the coolest FREE shows around. They book bands a few times a month to come and play for anyone who wants to watch. These showcases are an excellent opportunity to see up and coming artists.

Ohio Knife is out promoting their latest release on Fountain Records, called “Ohio Knife is OK!” Fountain Records would like to give you a chance to win a prize pack including the 12 inch which is a limited edition first pressing on color vinyl as well as a Fountain Records t-shirt of your choice. To enter, please email us at hipindetroit@gmail.com and tell us that you want to win the Fountain Records prize pack and include your full name in the email. We will draw three winners the day of the show and they will have a little gift waiting for them when they get to it. It's that easy! Take a second and listen to Ohio Knife and then enter to win.

You can find out more about Fountain Records on their website here. Good luck!

~S