No Quarter appears on the 1973 Led Zeppelin album Houses Of The Holy. Clocking in at 7:00, the title is a reference to showing no clemency or mercy for your opponent.
The Contestants:
Artist: The Brew Live Show: 7-16-2010 The Skinny: Leading off this week is a fantastic recording fro The Brew recorded live at Showcase Live in Foxboro, MA.
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READ ON for more covers of Led Zeppelin’s No Quarter…
Snoe.down 2011 @ Killington Resort and Spartan Arena
Words: Kahlil Katool Photos: Wesley Rizzo
Moe., hosted their fourth snoe.down Winter Music & Sports Festival from March 24 – 27, a festival that captures the “.down home” feel the band’s events are known for. For the second consecutive year snoe.down was held in Rutland, VT as well as within the gorgeous landscape of mountains in Killington, VT. This year’s snoe.down brought out a lot of up and coming acts as well as several established ones to compliment moe., the upstate New York-based “ragers of improvisational rock.”
[All photos by Wesley Rizzo]
Showing musical excellence is exactly what moe. did with their two-night stand at Rutland’s Spartan Arena, where Keller Williams and Lotus opened. Snoe.down also featured an outdoor set on the side of Bear Mountain which took place in below-freezing temperatures with The Ryan Montbleau Band opening. Moe. closed the weekend with an acoustic set that was open to VIP ticketholders, who were also treated to brunch. Not only did Keller open for moe., but he also had their dual lead-guitarist Al Schnier sit-in on his set. This was later complimented by Keller sitting in with moe. as well. Snoe.down is a unique festival with an emphasis on skiing as lift tickets are sold as an optional part of the festival ticket package.
Thursday, March 24
Those early to arrive on Thursday were able to see either Twiddle at the Pickle Barrel or The Brew with special guest opener Lucid at the Wobbly Barn. The Wobbly Barn is an intimate bar-type venue that has an older, rustic decor as the floors and the walls are all wooden with a wrap-around upstairs balcony giving it a quaint, barn feeling. Lucid has an interesting sound and played a stimulating set. The dynamics of the sax player along with their percussionist, who also played a harmonica, added several interesting layers to the six-piece band from Plattsburgh’s sound. The highlight of Lucid’s performance was an unexpected but enthusiastically received cover of Beck’s Debra. READ ON for more from snoe.down 2011…
December 31st is the biggest night for live music of the year. An argument might be made for Halloween, but I’m not buying it. Your non-live-music-loving-friends don’t say things like, “Halloween is the most anti-climactic day of the year” while you sit there and just snicker. We’ve been a little Phish heavy this week so let’s take a look at how 24 other bands rang in 2011.
Side Note: This was my first time using embedded images from setlist.fm and I must say it looks super slick. That site has really got it going on, I hope the quality of data improves as more people use it, because with better information – statistics like “What songs did LCD Soundsystem play in 2010” will be really useful to have for a wide variety of bands.
Foreplay/Long Time is the third track on Boston’s self-titled 1976 debut. Though many think it is the best-selling debut album in the US of all time, it is actually second with that honor belonging to the Guns ‘N Roses’ 1987 debut Appetite For Destruction.
The Contestants:
The Brew: Leading off this week is a straight-ahead and well-performed rendition from The Brew. There are a few good harmonies here and obviously Boston’s lead singer, Brad Delp, is one of the hardest rock voices to cover. Source:10-30-2009
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READ ON for the scoop on the rest of this week’s contestants…
On April 10th, Hidden Track got the unique opportunity to spend the entire day with full access to the Massachusetts based jamband, The Brew as they prepared for their headlining performance at The Music Hall in Portsmouth, NH. The concert – in front of 900 fans at the historic theater – was complete with sit-ins, video projections, a full lighting rig, one extremely colorful costume and eight hi-def cameras to capture it all.
The highlights from the evening included favorites Faces, Radio Swiss, and on the aptly named New Funk, where band members Joe, Chris Plante and Kelly Kane added some great explorations. Dave Drouin’s vocals and guitar work shined on a spot on cover of Boston’s Foreplay / Longtime and The Beatles’ Hello Goodbye with Matt Paine jumping in on pedal steel gave those with less familiarity with the original material, additional reason to cheer. The evening also saw 15-year-old Seth Campbell, resplendent in his Peruvian finery, sit in on First of Things and Eyes of the Giant, but it was his flute work on I Do Believe during the second set that brought the crowd to its feet.
READ ON for more of Jeremy’s pics and thoughts on The Brew…
15-year-old jam fan and music journalist Tyler Curtis often writes about the shows he sees for his The Shakedown Blog. Last week, Tyler posted his interview with guitarist Dave Drouin of The Brew. Dave and Tyler discussed the band’s past, present and future. Be sure to keep your eyes on The Shakedown Blog for reviews, interviews and more from Tyler Curtis.
Here’s a quick look at six other stories of interest…
Finally, Pete Mason recently created a survey to poll Phish fans about their thoughts on the lot scene to which 123 people responded. Pete posted the results on his PhanArt Blog. It’s interesting to see that 75% of respondees that vend in the lot either break even or make money. My only experience with vending was a brief one when I made tape covers that used the Phish logo in 1995 and was busted by Phish Security within four minutes.
2010 has some great albums on the way, and some are already here. Charlie Hunter released his most recent effort on January 12th, the Disco Biscuits supposedly have their first studio effort in eight years coming in March and Drive-By Truckers also release a new disc that month. Check this piece to see what these bands and others were up to on the road last week.
[Thanks to sonicsound for this week's photo]
Artist & Title:The Brew – Chance Reaching Date & Venue: 2010-01-29 House Of Blues, Boston MA Taper & Show Download:Ted Gakidis
HT contributor Wade Wilby headed out to the House Of Blues last week, and as I always do, I followed his thoughts on Twitter. Since he’s not the easiest person to impress, I took note of the comment that, “At moe. HOB. The Brew is ferocious. See this band asap”. The track I have selected is from the band’s 2008 release Back to the Woods. The band also opened their set with the theme music from Back To The Future, which is just awesome. The Brew play tonight with Particle at The Jewish Mother in Virginia Beach.
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READ ON to stream the rest of this week’s selections…
Last Week’s Sauce is a recurring column featuring recordings of shows from the previous week. Thanks to JBanyai97 for this week’s photo.
Artist & Title: The Brew – Total Eclipse Of The Heart Date & Venue: 2009-10-31 Center For The Performing Arts, Unity ME Taper & Show Download:Mike Salvo
As the show began, The Brew introduced themselves as Sofia & The Sofia 4 and played a lot of girl tunes throughout the night (like Heart Of Glass, Love Is A Battlefield, etc.) The Brew play tomorrow at Red Square in Albany.
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Last Week’s Sauce is a recurring column featuring recordings of shows from the previous week. Thanks to bigperm for this week’s photo.
Artist & Title: The Breakfast – Rufus>Frankly Po Zest>Rufus>Frankly Po Zest Date & Venue: 2009-10-16 River Street Jazz Cafe, Plains PA Taper & Show Download:Keith Litzenberger
Tim Palmieri is one of the best shredders on the scene, and you get some good evidence why in this section of segued classic Breakfast tunes. The Breakfast will be all around the Northeast in the next couple of months, they are next playing this Saturday at Red Square in Albany. Tim Palmieri plays solo tonight in New Haven. Highly recommended.
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READ ON to hear tracks from Cowboy Junkies, The Brew, and others.
I know what you’re thinking: This is going to be a bunch of layups like 2001: A Space Odyssey – or Being There, Star Wars and the James Bond theme song. That my friends, would be wrong. There were two critical criteria for this edition of Bust Outs: 1) it better be weird and 2) it better be funny.
Surprisingly, it took a good deal of digging to come up with a list of movie theme song covers that fit the bill as I would have expected to find dozens given the familiarity and fun of playing these numbers. Still, after a few days of searching, we finally have a pretty solid batch.
Wind Beneath My Wings (Beaches) – Phish, 11/28/95
To kick things off we have a gut buster of a one-timer from Phish, which doubles as my all time favorite Fishman tune. Paying homage to the one and only Colonel Bruce Hampton, Fishman sits him down in a chair on stage (with a newspaper from whatever reason) and serenades him with the question, “Did you ever know that you’re my hero?” Bette Midler may have just a slightly better voice, but Fishman has the love.
READ ON for more bust outs from the likes of Lotus and The Brew…
Last Week’s Sauce is a recurring column featuring recordings of shows that took place the previous week. Thanks to H20 for the photo.
Artist & Title: The Brew – Seen It All Date & Venue: 2009-07-25 Rock & Blues Cruise, Boston MA Taper & Show Download:Mike Salvo
Leading off this week is the first track off The Brew’s 2008 release Back to the Woods. The Brew next play this Saturday at the Wellfleet Beachcomber in Cape Cod.
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READ ON for more tracks from the likes of Steve Kimock and Wilco…
With Paul McCartney’s previous two albums (Wild Life and Red Rose Speedway) not being especially critically acclaimed, many see his 1973 release Band On The Run as something of a statement piece, and what a statement it was. Paul once shared that the title track of the album was built around something guitarist George Harrison would say during The Beatles’ business meetings, “If we ever get out of here”.
Side Note: Band On The Run is a great addition to the “What album is Phish going to cover?” discussion that friends of yours are undoubtedly having.
And now, the covers:
The Brew: Leading off this week we’ve got The Brew. Check the rest of this show for a great recording and additional covers from Kansas and The Police. Source: 5-14-2009
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READ ON for the lowdown on the rest of this week’s contestants…
Welcome back to the second installment of our two part Tour Diary put together by the members of The Brew. Yesterday, bassist Joe Plante told us all about the band’s adventures at moe.down. Now, Joe’s brother – keyboardist Chris Plante – shares his experience from the road…
[All photos by Ashley Plante]
September 5, 2008
Stone Church, New Market NH
Legendary venue facing foreclosure. This should be illegal. So many great bands have played here, so much great music, it seems like a cardinal sin to let this happen, hopefully in the coming weeks we will learn that some saint out there didn’t let that go down. [Editor's Note - Success!]
We have been playing this place for a few years now, maybe about 15 times total and after selling out our last play there in a blizzard, we decided it was time for a two night run (our first proper two night run I might add).
We have a couple great opening acts slated for the two night run, and up first is a band that we are very fond of, The Han Solos. Now close your eyes…wait leave them open you will need to read these instructions…
It’s been quite some time since we last brought you a new edition of Tour Diary, but our next installment was worth the wait. Former Blips artist The Brew recently made their first appearance at moe.down and then headed over to the Stone Church for what they thought at the time would be their last appearances at the landmark venue. Bassist Joe Plante gets us started…
[All photos by Ashley Plante]
August 30, 2008
Driving. It feels much better when you are driving to moe.down, even if a few early hitches come up. Hitch # 1: The night before we arrive at our hotel in East Burke, VT after a long couple of sets, find we are down a couple of beds and a room. It is 3:00AM. Chris Plante (keyboards) and Andrew May (sound engineer) are the self appointed “chosen ones” to deal with going back to the venue for a second option. Long story short, they drive around boondocks Vermont, get offered a potential sleeping spot, but it is the home of about 400, mythically gargantuan, hermit-crab-size spiders, which the owner ( a really cool, down to earth girl) loves. Andrew is just a little intimidated by this. Actually, he is petrified. After trying to sleep in a less than comforting environment for paranoid arachnophobes, they drive back to the hotel parking lot to sleep in the van with a hungry flock of mosquitos waiting. That was 4:30 AM. Two hours later is wake up call. The poor guys got about an hour of sleep and an hour of swatting. No time for bitching, just laughing this time. And time for moe.down!
We all pile into the van, turn on our GPS, affectionately named Gertrude (yes, she is a sexy bitch whom we spoon when nobody is looking), and we think we are looking at a 7 hour drive to moe.down. Little did we know Gertrude had planned on taking us through Canada to get there. I almost drive into the nightmare that would have been the Canadian Transit Authority without passports. That is Hitch #2. We turn around, having wasted two hours of our trek to nothing but technology and now we are looking at 8+ hours across the backroads of Vermont, NH, and New York, until the infamous I-90. A little shitty, but still amped for our prime time slots at moe.down!
READ ON for more of The Brew’s adventures at moe.down…
When the nominees for the New Groove Award were read at the recent Jammy Awards, Massachusetts’ The Brew got the biggest ovation from the crowd. After listening to their new album, Back To The Woods, I can understand why people are so into their music. The Brew has spent the last five years developing a unique songwriting style that combines flashy changes, beautiful lyrics and hooks you just can’t get out of your head. They also know how to kick out the jams behind Dave Drouin’s soaring guitar leads. 2008 looks to be the year that The Brew breaks into the bigtime. You can check ‘em out at moe.down or pretty much any decent sized city in the Northeast over the next few months. Keep your eyes on these guys, they are the real deal. – Scott Bernstein
READ ON for more on Pete Francis, Idan Reichel and the Weather Underground…
