Kentucky bands on top of Kentucky bands. The powerful fist of Kentucky music has been pumping harder than ever. Bands from Louisville and Lexington are hitting the road, making some noise and bringing back the bacon to our beloved homeland. The music flowing through our Kentuckian veins is like HGH for our local scene, allowing us to show off our glistening creative muscles in the sunlight.
Kentucky Psych Rock explorers,Wax Fang, have made some ripples as of late. Their sound rings unique amongst an influx of post-psych coming out of the states and the UK. Their delicate arrangements cushion their story-telling lyrics and the tunes cut deep. Their newest single, “King of the Kingdom of Man,” is a brilliant example of how well this band can pair the power of words with the power of music.
Wax Fang’s efforts have not gone unnoticed. The band recently won a top award at the Louisville Music Awards. Their accolades have not been limited to local attention. MTV’s Hive blog featured the premiere of their latest single and their brilliantly weird “Blonde Leading the Blonde” music video has been featured on Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco blog.
Wax Fang is headed to Lexington Friday October 11 at Cosmic Charlie’s for a party that will burn the midnight oil. Lexington’s own The Nativity Singers will be getting the crowd nice and juicy with their sunny math pop. Doors open at 9 Friday at Cosmic Charlie’s.
Local musicians and promoters have come together to create a cover band Halloween costume party called “Come As You Aren’t 6(66).”
I talked with Travis McGirr of Blood Pheasant who will be headlining the Halloween costume cover band party “Come As You Aren’t 6(66)” at Cosmic Charlies on October 26. McGirr says that its all about bands playing music they love: “It’s something that Cosmic Charlie’s has been doing for a few years. It started on Halloween and they also do it on April Fools Day, too; Lexington bands covering a band/artist they’re really into. It’s just having an excuse to do a set of someone else’s music they’ve wanted to do for a long time.” Along with Blood Pheasant’s Black Sabbath cover set, Un Chien Andalusia will be performing the “Doolittle” album from indie rock legends The Pixies and Bear Medicine will perform “In The Aeroplane Over The Sea” by Neutral Milk Hotel.
While Un Chien Andalusia and Bear Medicine will be paying tribute to specific albums, McGirr says that Blood Pheasant used a different method in selecting which Sabbath tunes to play. “Both other bands are covering specific albums, but I don’t think we could choose one in particular to do. Everything we play will probably be from the first four or five Sabbath albums. We’re still trying to narrow it down to about an hour long set! Every song on those first four records, plus most that came after, are classics so it’s hard to decide. I think most Black Sabbath fans would agree with that, so they’re all tunes you’ll know.” For those unfamiliar with Black Sabbath, their discography is epically huge and spans two front men, Ozzy Osbourne and Ronnie James Dio. McGirr is pumped to finally be able to pretend to be in Black Sabbath for a night. “I have been playing most these songs forever, so we maybe had a bit of an advantage starting out. We get to do Black Sabbath on Halloween. What’s cooler than that?”
Doors open at 9 o’clock on October 26 at Cosmic Charlie’s for the “Come As You Aren’t 6(66)” cover band party. And do not worry, you still have a couple of weeks to come up with your own costume idea.
Paradise Waitin’: A John Prine Hootenanny will benefit Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, and will include a host of local bands performing Prine’s work on October 12 at Willie’s. The lineup will include Coralee Townie, Matt Duncan, Kentucky Hoss Cats, Warren Byrom and Fabled Canelands, Maurice Manning, Mitch Barrett, Carla Gover, and more.
Great local music is abundant, but much of it is hiding in plain sight. Music lovers have a lot of great choices amongst our local repertoire in Lexington and Louisville, and an increase in mid sized venues is allowing the locals to flourish while bringing in some of the best talent from abroad. Even if you can’t make it to these shows, there are plenty of things to do in Lexington this month.
Check the Ace calendar at aceweekly.com for shows and more!
This article appears on page 11 of the October 10, 2013 print edition of Ace.
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