Win Tickets to Power Trip at the Magic Stick!

Monday is here again and another work week has began. Luckily, there is plenty to look forward to this weekend with the Hamtramck Music Festival coming up and there are some kick ass midweek shows coming up too!

This Thursday, March 5th Power Trip will be taking over the Magic Stick in Detroit. Joining them on stage are Detroit's own Easy Action and Build & Destroy. Tickets for this show are only $10 and can be purchased in advance here or fee free at the Garden Bowl. All three of these bands are known for having awesome live shows, so we're sure this will be one hell of a night.

You can thank Virginia over at Party Store Productions for putting this show together and also for giving you a chance to get into it for free. We've teamed up with her to give away one pair of tickets to this show! To enter to win, email your full name to hipindetroit@gmail.com with Power Trip in the subject line. if you wan to be entered a second time, hit us up on social media and tell us you want to go (Facebook, Twitter or Instagram - @hipindetroit). We will draw a winner the morning of the show and let them know how to claim their prize.

~C

The Hamtramck Music Festival

Two years ago The Metro Times Blowout changed formats. Instead of being held in Hamtramck every March, the Blowout became a muti-city event that takes place much later in the year. A lot of us were distraught until we realized that Ben's Encore Booking Company was going to step up and start another weekend long party in its place called The Hamtramck Music Festival.

This weekend The Hamtramck Music Festval will take over Ham-town for three days of music fun. This year's festival features a solid lineup of some of Detroit's best musicians. The lineup includes Ryan Dillaha and The Miracle Men, Six and the Sevens, Rogue Satellites, My Pal Val, Julian Paaige, Cold English, Saturday Looks Good To Me, The Beggars, Axe Ripper,  CHARACTERISTICS, TART, 1592, Little Animal, Cold Men Young, The Witches, Detroit-Party Marching Band, Amino Acids, Radio Burns, The ILL Itches, The Erers, Ponyshow, Ancient Language, George Morris & the Gypsy Chorus and many more.

The venues include: 7 Brothers, Baker's Street Car, Cafe 1923, Capo Lounge, Carbon Lounge, Kelly's, The New Dodge, The Painted Lady, Paychecks, Polish Village Cafe, Rock City Eatery, Small's and Whiskey in the Jar.

The festival takes place March 6th- 8th. Tickets for the event are only $10, this gets you into all the bars and all the shows throughout the whole weekend. Wristbands can be purchased in person at at Campau Tower, Detroit Threads, Flipside Records, Found Sound, Peoples Records, Regeneration, Rock City Eatery, Small's, and UHF Records. You can also buy tickets online with a small service fee here. The music will start at 7 p.m. each night of the fest. This year they are also having a FREE kick off party at the Fowling Warehouse (3901 Christopher Street in Hamtramck) on Thursday, March 5th. For more information about the fest, please visit their website here.

~S

Check Out Two New Detroit Bands This Weekend at the Lager House!

Saturday night head down to Corktown to check out 2 new Detroit bands that everyone will be talking about very soon. The bands are Orange Atlas and Gold Crayon and they are playing at PJ's Lager House.

Orange Atlas is a five piece that describes themselves as "Urban Psychedlic". They have actually been around for a minute, but just started playing shows recently. They're in the process of recording a new album right now, but they have a bunch of tunes you can check out on Soundcloud here.

Gold Crayon is a new project featuring Gregory Beyer, Steve Lehane, Michael Krygier, Taylor Pierson and Steve Stetson. Although you might know some of these guys from other bands, this is the first show for this band. They don't have any tunes out yet, but they aren't wasting any time. They have already been busy in the studio recording. So be sure to keep an eye on their Facebook page to hear more from these guys.

Also on Saturday's show are Sarah Burton from Toronto and Frank Patrick James with his band. Admission is only $5 and doors open at 9 p.m. PJ's Lager House is located at 1254 Michigan Ave. in Detroit.

~C

Win Tickets to See Honeyblood with 2:54!

Girls are taking over UFO Factory on Wednesday, March 4th. Party Store Productions is bringing 2 amazing female projects to Detroit all the way from Scotland & England. The bands are 2:54 and Honeyblood, and if you haven't heard them yet, we think you will like what you hear.

Honeyblood is an indie rock duo with just enough grrrl rock. If you're a fan of bands like the Breeders or Sahara Hotnights, you'll probably like what you hear. The band features Stina Tweeddale on vocal/guitar and Cat Myers on drums. They released their self titled debut album in the summer of 2014. You can check it out here.

2:54 features two sisters (Colette & Hannah Thurlow) alongside a couple of awesome dudes (Alex Robins, Rich Fry). This band is a little less poppy, leaning more towards a trippy grunge feel. They also recently released a new album, entitled The Other I. Head over and check it out here.

Tickets for this show are $10 in advance and can be purchased online here. Thanks to Party Store Productions, we are also getting someone in to this show with a friend for FREE. To enter to win, just email us at hipindetroit@gmail.com with your name in the body and Honeyblood/2:54 in the subject. We will draw one lucky winner the morning of the show and let them know how they can claim their prize.

Doors will open at 9 p.m. on Wednesday. The UFO Factory is located at 2110 Trumbull in Corktown in Detroit. For more details on this show, click here.

~C

Win Tickets to Bronze Mambas' Back From The Dead, Vol. 1 Release Show!

Detroit rockers Bronze Mambas are celebrating the release of their first full length album this Friday, February 27th at The Old Miami. The three piece includes David Bronze on vocals, Zander Way on drums and Dan O'Leary on guitar. To hear some of their sounds, head over and check them out on YouTube here.

Everyone that comes through the door on Friday will get a copy of Bronze Mambas' album, entitled Back From the Dead, Vol 1. Joining the band on stage are Red Stone Souls, The Native Howl and The Gasoline Gypsies. Admission is only $5 and doors are set to open at 8 p.m. Lucky for you, we are also giving away 2 pairs of tickets to this show! If you would like to get your name in the hat, just email your full name to hipindetroit@gmail.com with Bronze Mambas in the subject line. We will draw 2 winners the morning of the show and let them know how to claim their prize.

The Old Miami is located at 3930 Cass Ave. in Detroit. For more details on this show, head to the Facebook event page here.

~C

Last Thursdays with The Seraphine Collective at The Lager House

Detroit has a very unique music scene.  There are so many bands, so many venues, and so many great artists within our community. Many of those talented artists are women, amazingly talented women who run companies, play music, write, paint, and just generally kick ass. I consider my business partner Christie Laabs to be one of the many bad ass women who make this music scene move. What would we do without Sarah and Ramona at Black Iris Booking and Virginia Benson at Party Store Productions? These ladies work really hard to bring great bands through Detroit. Rachel May fronts Broadzilla and hosts a cool show on Hard Edge Radio. Val and Elise from MPV get on stage and perform so fearlessly. Carey Gustafson, Amy Cronkite and Bethany Nixon run Handmade Detroit and work really hard to bring us The Detroit Urban Craft Fair every year. These women are amazing and talented and I respect the hell out of them.

Another group of amazing women called The Seraphine Collective are working together to create, "an inclusive, supportive and active community of female-identified musicians and artists designed to foster creative expression and camaraderie among feminists in Detroit". Their goal is, "to create a collaborative, female-owned and operated music and art community space". This group is made up of nine great women who are working hard to bring positivity to the Detroit music scene, this is obviously something that we can get behind. These ladies are booking shows and events that promote female unity and positivity. They also have a Soundcloud where they are posting all kinds of great tunes. You can check that out here.

The Collective has establish a monthly event at PJ's Lager House called Last Thursdays. These monthly events will bring local and national female acts to the stage together. The next installment of this series will take place this Thursday, February 26th at 9 p.m. Little Animal and VNESSWOLFCHILD along with DJs Mother Cyborg, Marianna Vermiglio and Dina Bankole will be performing. It is only $5 to get in the door and The Lager House is located at 1254 Michigan Ave. in Detroit.

~S

Win Tickets to See Tennis Before You Can Buy Them!!!

Denver duo Tennis just announced that they are heading out on tour across the U.S. with one of their last stops being right here in Ferndale. The tour is in support of their latest album Ritual In Repeat that came out this past fall. Check out the video for their song "Bad Girls" off the new album below.

Tennis will be hitting the stage at The Loving Touch on Wednesday, May 20th. Tickets will be $12 in advance or $15 at the door and are set to go on sale this Friday, February 27th at 10 a.m. Thanks to our friends at AEG Live we are giving away a pair of tickets to this show before you can even buy them! To enter to win, email you full name to hipindetroit@gmail.com with Tennis in the subject line. We will announce our winner early Friday morning so you know if you have to buy your tickets or not! We guarantee this is going to be a great show, plus it's at one of our favorite venues, The Loving Touch. You can't go wrong with this one!

~C

Free in Detroit

Boot-Cut Booking has come up with a very cool idea to shake things up. They are starting a new event that will run monthly or bimonthly called Free in Detroit. The idea behind this event is to bring some of Detroit's best bands, artists, photographers, and independent apparel lines together outside of the city to expose them to a new audience.

This event will be held at Hatchy's in Downtown Utica. You might not think of Downtown Utica as a happening place, but I went out and toured the venue and my mind was blown. The space is gorgeous, huge, has great lighting, a great stage, and a large bar. It has a nice green room for bands that are performing and a large space for local artists to set up and sell their wares.

The first month's lineup includes Adventurer, Wolfshark, Some Sort Of Oasis (SPECIAL REUNION SET), 1876 and Antevorta. Vendors will include Dylan Dulberg Photography, Eternally Nocturnal, Animated Apparel, Ron Malmsten Design, and more. It is happening this Thursday, February 26th at 7 p.m. The best part about this event is that it is FREE. It is a great way to get out of your comfort zone, try something new, and to network with other up and coming artists in the area.  

If you would like to play at a future show or set up a table, reach out to Boot-Cut Booking. You can also follow them on Facebook to keep up with future events and bookings. Very cool idea! 

~S

Mac N' Brews at The Royal Oak Farmers Market

This winter has been harsh, the cold temperatures and strong winds have kept a lot of us locked inside for fear of frostbite. Cozying up with a blanket can be the best feeling in the world, but sometimes you also need to get out of the house. Living through a Michigan winter isn't easy, we have to bundle up and get out to keep our sanity.

This Thursday, February 26th the Royal Oak Farmers Market is hosting an event to get you out of your house while still keeping you cozy. Mac N' Brews will feature drinks and bites from 20 local restaurants and 20 breweries. This includes food from local favorites like Sweet Lorraine's, Granite City, Ale Mary's, Republica, and Monk Beer Abbey. The event will feature Dragonmead, Griffin Claw Brewing Company, Magic Hat, and Brooklyn Brewing Company. General admission tickets to the event are $50, they can be purchased here. The fun starts at 6:30 p.m. For more details about the event, head over to their website here.

~S

The Street Light Series Film and Music Showcase

This Friday, February 27th the Street Light Series will be bringing Detroit's indie music scene and indie film scene together for one special night at The Elizabeth Theater. This event will feature  narrative short films, documentary short films, music videos. feature film trailers, and art- house commercial advertisements that were made right here in Michigan. Ten plus production companies will be featured. They will also have local bands Garbage Tornado, SICK, and F. Patrick James. This event is being put on by Rumor Productions and is being sponsored by D.I.M.E. Detroit.

Tickets for the event are $10 in advance and $15 at the door, advance tickets can be purchased here. Check out the teaser for the event and head out at 7 p.m. this Friday to support the local music and movie scenes!

Streetlight Series - Teaser from Rumor Productions, LLC on Vimeo.

~S