Hip in Detroit's Picks for the Weekend: July 19-21, 2024

Friday, July 19th - Norcos Y Horchata and The Idiot Kids @ Outer Limits: The Sleevens from Nashville will be hitting the stage at Outer Limits Lounge this Friday night to celebrate the release of their new 45! Joining them are Detroit's own Norcos Y Horchata and The Idiot Kids, plus The Sueves from Chicago. Cover is $15 to see this great lineup and doors open at 8 p.m.

Friday, July 19th - Speed Circuit @ Reware Vintage: If you haven't been to a show at Reware Vintage yet, you're missing out on a fun time! This Friday night they have another great show for you, with Speed Circuit, Long Square, and Teddy Roberts on the bill. Entry is free, but they do suggest you donate to the bands. All ages are welcome and doors open at 8 p.m.

Saturday, July 20th - Few and Far Between @ Small's: As a part of their 25th Anniversary Celebration, Small's has been hosting some epic shows this year and the streak continues this Saturday night! Few and Far Between will be playing a very rare show, their first in years! The band will be playing "3" in its entirety and they'll even have a limited edition vinyl re-release of the record. Joining Few and Far Between are Buried Lights and Shindig Machine. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased in advance here. Doors will open at 8 p.m.

Sunday, July 21st - Sad Summer Festival @ The Crofoot: If you long for those summer days when you would bake in the sun while listening to your favorite bands all day at a festival like Warped Tour or DirtFest, you have a chance to spend the day sweating and singing along this Sunday! Sad Summer Festival will take over The Crofoot Grounds for a full day of fun, with bands like Mayday Parade, The Maine, The Wonder Years, and more on the bill. In addition to the national touring acts, plenty of great locals are on the bill too, like Bathroom of the Future, Greg Blucher, and Plainview. There are a total of two dozen acts playing, check out the full lineup here. Tickets start at $59.50 and the festival starts at 1 p.m.

Sunday, July 21st - Detroit Festival of Books @ Eastern Market: The Seventh Annual Detroit Festival of Books returns to Eastern Market this Sunday! Shop with tons of vendors selling new books, old books, comic books, and everything in between. There will also be authors on site for you to meet, food and beer available for purchase, and tunes provided by DJ Seven Whales. Admission is free! Book Fest goes from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

~C

Touch the Clouds with Members of Few and Far Between

Side projects are the best thing to happen since sliced bread. I love when a good band forms another potentially good band because we all win. Three of the guys from Few and Far Between have branched off and formed Touch the Clouds. They have released one track to give you a taste of what they are all about and you can download it for free!

They also have a FREE show coming up so you can check them out live too! They will be playing March 23rd at The House of Shamrocks. The show starts at 10 p.m. and will also feature Wrist-Rocket and Mini. Three great bands for free, can't beat that! The House of Shamrocks is located at 23420 John R in Hazel Park. For more info on the show, visit the Facebook event here. 

Touch the Clouds will also be playing at Destroy This Place's Record Release Show in May with Break Anchor! So this is a great excuse to get to know the band, so you are even more stoked to catch them again in a couple of months! 

~SC 

Check Out This Destroy This Place Video From Our One Year Anniversary Show

Here is another awesome video of Destroy This Place from our Anniversary Show. Thanks again to Matt Moy, Ryan Monaghan and Adam Burgess for the videos!

Destroy This Place recently announced that they will be having their LP release show on May 17 at PJ's Lager House with Break Anchor and Touch the Clouds. Everyone knows how much we love Break Anchor and Destroy This Place, and Touch the Clouds isn't any different since the band features members from Few and Far Between, Lovesick and Red Iron Orchestra. So mark your calendars for May 17!

Until then, check out this video:

Thanks again to all of the bands and people that played and helped out with our show! It was the best night ever (what we remember of it anyway)!

~B

Want to Win a Set of Tickets to Black Christmas on December 28?

Three weeks from now 27 of Detroit’s biggest bands are going to be playing under the same roof to celebrate Black Christmas. Black Iris Booking has gone out of their way to book one of the biggest shows of the year. Friday, December 28th, The Magic Stick, Majestic Theatre, Magic Stick Lounge and the Garden Bowl will have bands playing from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. 

If you purchase a ticket to this event you will have access to all the bands in all the rooms. It is basically four different shows for the price of one. Tickets are $20 for the first 500 tickets sold presale, $22 presale once those sell out and $25 at the door the night of the show. It can save you up to $5 to buy your ticket in advance. Of course we want to do even better than $20! We want to get you and a friend in for free! 

For the next 3 Fridays we will being featuring a few of the bands that are playing the Black Christmas show. You can check out that feature and then either tweet us at @hipindetroit or tag us on Instagram @hipindetroit. You must use the hashtags listed in that week's article to win the prize. The first winner will be announced this Thursday, December 20th, so make sure to enter as soon as you are done reading this article!
 
Few and Far Between:
We caught up with Few and Far Between a few weeks ago when they played at Smalls. They are a band that used to play locally a lot, but time and distance (one of the members lives in NYC) has made a performance by these guys harder to catch. We got a chance to talk with them when they played at Small's recently. Their live performance is amazing and showcases the incredible musical talent housed within this band. 

 

P.T.’s Revenge:
This is another band that came back after taking a long break. They used to make waves when they played out and about in Detroit and they are finally back on the scene to do it again. The guys have gotten a little older and had a few children (the guitarist is currently expecting twins!), Jeff the bassist is P.T.’s biggest fan and critic if he likes a song they go with it and if he doesn’t like a song they do not. They plan to play more and eventually record a complete new full length. Their last record was released on Whoa! Records last December after sitting for a long time due to the band temporarily breaking up. Do not miss singer Kevin bouncing around the stage with no shoes on, something I usually only see drummers do. This band has a rep for writing catchy upbeat pop punk songs that you just can’t get enough of and their live show lives up to their hype. 

The A-Gang:
The A-Gang features former members of some huge name acts including The Suicide Machines, Mest, The Company We Keep and an old local favorite of mine, Fordirelifesake. We have seen them play at the Toepfer House and they always get the crowd moving and sweaty. Vocalist Matthew Wedge is one of my favorite front men, although he will tell you he isn’t that good at it! Maybe it’s the down to earth attitude that makes this band so fun to see live. Check out a live song we recorded here:

 

Down Down Down:
This band boasts 2 former members of Frank White, who, rumor has it, are going to be doing a reunion show early next year. These 3 boys bring a new fresh face to punk rock and do it well. They have a new EP out on bandcamp that you can stream for free and they caught up with Christie a few months ago at the loving touch, check out that interview to learn more about the band.

This week’s hashtags will be #BlackIrisBooking #HipInDetroit #BlackChristmas #MagicStick #FewAndFarBetween #PTsRevenge #Agang and #Downdowndown

Here is the complete list of bands playing:
Black Christmas featuring The Suicide Machines and Mustard Plug
Koffin Kats, Continental, Kid Brother Collective, The Swellers, We Are The Union, Few & Far Between, Break Anchor, The A-Gang, Common Enemy, Golden Torso, P.T.'s Revenge, Snakewing, Louder Than Bombs, All Eyes West, Down Down Down, Still Alive, Slo Poke, The Black List, DGR/DWN, Arm Your Enemy, Nice Hooves, Seized Up, The Mizzerables, Wrist Rocket and Spick Of It All

~S

A Few Minutes with Few And Far Between

While most bars were full of drunken slobs the night before Thanksgiving, we spent our evening with a slightly classier crowd at Small's. Good friends, new friends and a few super fans all gathered for the Few And Far Between show, which themselves seem to be few and far between these days. We had a chance to hang out with the guys before the first band went on and even do a short interview. I must say, this was by far one of the nicest bands we have met so far. (So, that first "few and far between" repeat in one sentence was on purpose. Not sure why I keep saying far in every sentence now though. Kind of weird.) So...check out Sadie's interview with the guys down below:

We also had a chance to shoot a couple of songs from Few And Far Between's set, including one song with guest vocalist Dave Graw (Nice Hooves, Isosceles Mountain). You can check those out here:

 

If you missed out on this great show, you will have another chance to catch Few And Far Between on December 28th at Black Christmas presented by Black Iris Booking at The Majestic Complex. There are a ton of other great bands playing that night to. A TON! More info on that coming soon, but until then, visit the Facebook event page.

~C

Few And Far Between

Years ago, Few and Far Between could be seen playing around town on any given weekend. They were a staple at some of the best shows I saw playing with bands like Small Brown Bike and Heads Will Roll before slowing down their schedule and taking a step back from the spotlight. Half of the band still lives here in Detroit and the other half lives in NYC. This helps explain why throwing the gear in the van and heading out to play a show isn't as easy as it used to be. 

Now when I hear that they are performing, my ears perk up and I make a point to make it out to the show. The reality is that you can't be sure how long it will be fore they book another gig. That's why I am so excited that they are playing at Small's in Hamtramck on November 21st with Old Mission and Cruise Italy. They have recorded a Split 7" with Cruise Italy that will be for sale at the show. You can download their full body of work on iTunes. Their best known record is  “We're All Safe”, but their entire collection of music is worth the money. Tickets for the November 21st show can be purchased at smallsbardetroit.com and are only $7. This show is 18 and over, so you can get in if you are under 21! For more information and updates you can follow the Facebook event here.

~S