I’ve been on a Doors kick lately, the music swirling constantly in my brain much like it did when I first discovered them way back in high school, and it’s because Ray Manzarek died three weeks ago. Rather than mourn though, that evening turned into a kind of celebration, so to honor Ray, his music, and the rest of the guys in the band, I wanted to say the following:

Ray Manzarek died on May 20, 2013. I didn’t believe it at first, thought it was one of those internet hoaxes, that surely he was alive and well somewhere getting ready for another performance or two with Robby and John, that he’d be on a stage soon banging on the keys with his right hand and tapping out the bass lines with his left, that he’d smile in between songs and entertain the crowd with tales of Jim and Jimbo and his thoughts about the lasting influence The Doors’ music has had over the years, continues to have, but I was wrong. He was dead. The music, for him at least, was over.

My girlfriend and I were bummed, were silent at the dinner table and on the couch afterward. A man whose music had given definite shape and meaning to both our lives was no more, so we turned off the TV and did the only thing we could do. We went out to a pub to honor him with post-dinner drinks. When we got there, it was dark, a little depressing. There were only about ten people in the place including the bartender. “Welcome to the Jungle” was playing, and that wasn’t what we wanted to hear. We ordered drinks, and in need of some joy, I went to the jukebox and dropped in some cash, loaded it up with The Doors, but the music didn’t come. Someone in the bar was apparently on a Guns and Roses kick, and that’s a band I just can’t stomach anymore. Their music hasn’t aged well. It wrenches my innards, seems stuck in its time, but the songs kept coming. “Paradise City”, “November Rain”, “Mr. Brownstone”. When “Sweet Child O’Mine” came on, my girlfriend said, “Let’s get out of here,” and we paid and left knowing we’d miss the songs we wanted to hear, but that was fine. Playing the music was tribute enough. It didn’t matter if we stayed to listen. Others would hear it, maybe be moved when “Light My Fire” or “Riders on the Storm” came on.

“Did you hear Ray Manzarek died today?” someone would say.

“Yeah, that’s sad. Let’s go get some tacos.”

Because of that Oliver Stone movie about the band, I always think about tacos when their music comes on. The idea is fixed in my brain, The Door and Tacos, two most excellent forms of sustenance. I’ll hear the opening riff of “Roadhouse Blues” or “Five to One” and the image image will come, Val Kilmer pushing the microphone out of his way, taking a slug from a bottle, looking toward the sound booth, “Let’s go get some tacos.”

And so we did on our way home from the bar. We got six tacos from a truck parked next to the Shell station near our place and grabbed handfuls of hot sauce while we were at it. We started laughing for some reason, too, giggling, sometimes doubled over like we couldn’t accept the sadness of it all. Ray couldn’t be dead. I was only two when Jim died, and my girlfriend wasn’t even alive. Neither of us were much affected by his death, so over the years, it was Ray who seemed the leader, the embodiment of the band from interviews and videos, from the old story about how Jim sang to him on the beach those first few lines of “Moonlight Drive”. He was a co-founder, a creator. His sound defined the music more so than Robby’s guitar or John’s drums, even if it was Jim and Robby who wrote most of the tunes. It saddened us greatly, but we couldn’t stop laughing. The guy working the taco truck must have thought us drunk. “Ah, muy loco.” When we got home, we ate standing in our kitchen with beers, each of us taking turns singing our favorite Doors’ songs and spitting bits of taco on the floor in between the melodies and the laughter and even a bit of dancing.

“Show me the way to the next whisky bar…”

“Carry me caravan, take me away…”

“My wild love went riding…”

“Wild child, full of grace, savior of the human race…”

“All our lives we sweat and save, building for a shallow grave…”

“It’s all over, the war is over…”

We finished the tacos and the beers and wiped hot sauce from the corners or our mouths, she with a napkin, me with the back of my hand. We stopped laughing but were still hungry, and being only a little past eleven, we were just getting started on the singing thing, the reverberation of music that we have on the inside thanks to Ray and the boys. She looked at me, sighed, “More tacos?”

“Definitely.”

So we got in the car and headed over to Taco Bell. On the way, we held hands singing yet another Doors tune, one of my favorites, “My eyes have seen you let them photograph your soul, memorize your alleys on an endless roll.” When we got to a stoplight, I raised her hand and kissed the back of it then burped quietly. It smelled of beef and onions and cheddar cheese, of hot sauce, of us, and though neither of us spoke, we knew what we wanted to say. We wanted to speak of love, of moments that last, of music that gets us through, of now, of a night we hoped would not end because we didn’t want to stop singing, or eating.

When we got to Taco Bell, we ordered four more tacos and a Mexican pizza. “Sure thing, lady,” came the young squeaky voice that was a little too energetic for working the drive through at that hour, “Anything else I can get you with that?”

“No thanks,” she replied to him, “just some extra fire sauce, please.” We pulled around to the window. She fished in her wallet, looked up at the guy, “How much is it?” Then she burped, a nice loud one, guttural.

“Whoa, lady!” He sounded a little put off.

“Sorry,” she apologized, but she was laughing, again. “Here,” she gave him a twenty. He looked at her sidelong while making change, then handed her the bag without saying anything else. As we were pulling out of the parking lot, I put Strange Days in the CD player and clicked forward to “When the Music’s Over” and there came those mighty keys. I started tapping the dashboard and bent forward as I imagined Ray would, as I’d seem him do in numerous videos, lost in the sounds, lost in the moment.

Ray once said, “You don’t make music for immortality, you make music for the moment. For capturing the sheer joy of being alive on planet earth. Wow, is this fun.”

He was right.

I opened a taco for each of us and we ate while singing, while laughing, while driving the circus-filled streets toward home.

Photo by Dani Winder

I had the privilege of  interviewing Matt Baird of Spoken before they opened for Danko Jones & Volbeat at the Showbox Market on March 22^nd, 2013. I arrived at the venue around 6:15, running late as usual, so I started texting Matt to meet me for the interview. Turns out he’s stuck out in the alley behind the venue babysitting the van because there was nowhere to park it until 7. I thought to myself “Alright I can do my 1^st ever interview in an alley! Yay! Let’s do this!” So I walked around back, introduced myself and there with squawking seagulls and wailing sirens in the background I conducted my 1^st interview. Matt was great and other than having frozen hands by the end of our chat the whole experience was amazing!

I was going to summarize for the sake of shortening the interview, but it was so much fun and so interesting I couldn’t even fathom capturing all of it in a summary. So here it is the full version for your reading pleasure!

Q.)   So tell me a brief history of your band?

A.)   We started in 1996 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. We kind of just got together in our living room and started hammering out some ideas and learning a couple of covers here and there. We started playing people’s backyards, parties, back decks and living rooms and whatever. We were like “what are we doing?” We just felt like let’s do this! Let’s actually do it as a career.  It all kind of started because I was taking community college classes and working full time for my uncle and I was really not happy with my station in life. I kept being like “God seriously what am I doing with my life? What am I doing?” Then one day it changed and I’m like I’m asking the wrong questions so I was like “God what do you want me to do for you?” And that’s when I’m like “Ah! Dude a band! Cool.” I felt like it was just ok to start a band and do it. So that’s what we’ve done now for last 17 years. We signed a record deal about 10 months after we started playing, so our 1^st record came out in 1997. We did 3 albums on a small label called Metro One records, then 3 albums on Tooth & Nail records our last album on Tooth & Nail came out in 2007 and that fulfilled our obligations to Tooth & Nail. So we spent 2 ½ years replacing a couple band members here and there and touring non-stop. Finally we were like “Wow our fans are going to forget about us if we don’t do a record.” So we started talking to some labels. 2 ½ years into it we started writing and recording songs with Jason Rauch. He used to be a guitar player in the band Red. He was like” dude let’s write some songs together!”  So we started that whole process of writing and recording just demos. Anyway management got involved with trying to find a record label situation, we continued to tour non-stop. Then about 6 or 7 months ago we started talking to E1 music and everything just lined up. The record was almost done; E1 was interested in what we’ve done as a band and what we were doing now. It was a perfect fit. We wrote and recorded the album in 2 ½ years and it came out 3 weeks ago. So here we are at this point 17yrs later and on tour with Volbeat, the biggest tour we’ve ever done. It’s really strange. It’s strange to be able to still be a band but be happier with the whole situation than you have ever been.

Q.)   Who are some of your musical influences?

A.)   My favorite artist is Keith Urban, country artist. I grew up listening to Metallica, I love Metallica still; but bands like Linkin Park, The Used, Sevendust, Deftones are a huge influence. I’m a channel surfer; if I’m driving I’m surfing channels. I love the Killers. The Killers are probably top 3 bands. I would say it’s probably Keith Urban, U2 & the Killers would be top 3. I love metal, whatever I love all of it.

Q.)   Where do you see yourself in 2yrs?

A.)   I hope that I’m the road with spoken still, but my wife and 2 boys are with me. That would be the perfect scenario, we’d never go home. I just want it to be where I can still do what I feel I’m supposed to do with Spoken but my family be with me all the time. That’s the hardest part, I adore my family I think they’re great, being away from them is the thing, and it’s kind of the only bummer about this.

Q.)   What was your best tour experience?

A.)   Best tour experience up to this point in our life has been with Volbeat. The past 2 weeks have been incredible, their fans have been amazing, they’ve been super nice and cool to be around.

Q.) Worst tour experience?

A.)   There’s plenty of worst. There’s just too many to count. It has to do with vehicle break downs, promoters ripping us off, or you’re on tour with a band you can’t stand. They feel like their god’s gift to anything and they’re a brand new band. With us having so much tour history, you have these young bands who come out on the road thinking they’ve got it all figured out, it’s like no, it’s unpredictable it doesn’t matter what band you are, how big of a band you are how long you’ve been doing it, you can have nights where it’s like, did that really just happen? And that’s just how it goes. No one is immune to it; let me put it that way.

Q.) What inspires you to write?

A.)   Life!  All of us go through things in life, whether a person has faith or not, they don’t enjoy going through those things. With this record, with Illusion, the first songs on the record deal with bitterness and confusion. A lot of that is with life, just dealing with people.  Luckily the record went from bitterness and confusion to grace and redemption, so the record is much more uplifting with the last pieces of the record. There are songs about love, songs about just enjoying playing rock n’ roll, there are songs about  people being sick and getting past it, there are songs about loss and everyone can relate to those songs because we all go through it. So we absolutely write songs about life and our experiences as people.

Q.) What is your writing & recording process?

A.)   On this record we all wrote. Our Producer Jason Rauch was like a band member. I even asked him to join the band, but he’s got his own thing going. We all were able to write on this record and we all learned so much about writing.  Jason is just a genius, we bring song ideas to him and in his mind, you can see it, he already hears It finished. In his mind it’s already mapped out, but he’s like yeah keep working on it, yeah that’s cool but it doesn’t quite work how about this? Lyrically as far as what I’m writing about, I write about what I’m experiencing. Jason has a way of helping figure out what to say & how to say it with less words.  We all wrote guitar riffs and did beat box noises with our mouths like dude what if it was like this? Or sitting down with an acoustic guitar and trying to show an idea. Unfortunately I’m not that good of a guitar player so when I have an idea I’m like play something that kind of sounds like this, but make it good! Everyone was involved and Jason Rauch was a big part of it. He taught us so much about our band and about song writing.

Q.)   What has been your best show so far?

A.)   Our band was going through a bunch of turmoil about 11yrs ago. We were just having a really tough time, we had band members leaving, there were several shows that just bombed, and we didn’t get paid. It was during a transition phase with management, record label stuff and booking agents. Everything was just like what is going on? We lost a drummer in the middle of a tour; we got a fill in drummer who was just slaughtering our songs. So we’re driving through Oregon. I hear a loud pop and I look in the rearview mirror there’s black smoke everywhere, I’m like WHAT? And I see this piece of metal bouncing down the interstate. I jump out real quick and look underneath the van and the transmission fluid that’s pouring out is black, and it’s supposed to be an off red color. Anyway we get towed 21 miles to a repair shop; we catch them 10 minutes before they close. They do their thing, they put more transmission fluid in it, change the filter, put the cap back on, they drive it around and are like alright you guys are good to go. I’m like “no, I saw the transmission fluid.” They’re like “no you’re good we just test drove it.” “I’m like we’ve burned through transmissions before.”  He’s like “this is what we do for a living, you’re good.”  We take off driving and I’m just contemplating, what is going on? Is god just trying to get to me? Am I too stubborn to hear this? Are we supposed to be done? Everything right now is just downhill, what’s going? We get to Tacoma, WA and we play Club Impact. That night the show went really well, great turn out, the drummer was on top of things, the crowd totally into it and there was just this peace that came across. There was like a warm breeze that just blew through and it was calming you’re like “this feels right.” That night after the show we met Ryan Jordan, who’s from Tacoma. We met Ryan and his friend Brandon, who were in a band together but on a hiatus. Ryan was living in Japan with his family but here visiting, just happened to be here. I was like hey man we’re looking for a drummer, if you know anybody. I’d never met him before. He was like “well that’s crazy I’m looking for a gig.” He ended up being our drummer for 8 years. That night, Tacoma, WA it was a turning point in my heart.  It’s so crazy the shows that stick out aren’t the biggest; they’re not the ones that it’s like “what is going on?” but the ones that change your life. It’s not only about the crowd having their life changed but the band members as well.

Q.)   Worst show?

A.)   Yeah, McAllister OK, everything went wrong. It’s pointless to even write them down because EVERYTHING went wrong.  From the moment we left Arkansas to get there, to road construction, high winds, this, that whatever. To when we get there the sound system’s not figured out,  it’s hooked up wrong, to sound check that took over an hour when it should have only taken 20 minutes tops.  To where we went to eat and then they’re like “hey they got to get back here, they’re on in 10 minutes!” “ We’re like what there are 6 bands?” “ Oh this band didn’t have this cable so they can’t play; this band didn’t show up, this band whatever.”  The on the 1^st song our guitarist steps on a monitor, it flips out from under him he lands on his tail bone on his peddle board and thinks he broke his hip. 2^nd song I fall off the front of the stage, 3^rd song I put my foot on a monitor it bounces up and hits a girl in the throat. 4^th or 5^th song all the monitors quit working, then the next song our bass player does this big battle axe right across the forearm of our guitar player, he just walks off the stage, a guitar player that was filling in slaughtered every song! Funny part of it, which was probably the best part, one of the guitarists from one of the opening bands was trying to get our bass player’s attention. Bass player was like “dude you sounded good I’ll talk to ya later”, because we’re still trying to play. Anyway he was trying to say “Dude you ripped your pants!” Turns out from the inside of one knee to the inside of the other it was all ripped. Everything about that show was the worst thing possible, and then we drove 12hrs over night to a show in southern Texas.  That was the worst show I can think of off the top of my head but there awful, awful things that have happened over the years, but that would be the one that sticks out at this moment.

Q.)   What do you think sets you apart from other bands?

A.)   I think we go above and beyond to show people how thankful we are that they’re at our show. I don’t care if there’s 5 people there they could have easily sat at home. Same thing on this tour with Volbeat, it means a lot that people are showing up early, it means a lot that people are actually watching us play, it means a lot that when we play 5 songs and before the 6^th song I say “we put our hope in Jesus Christ”, and they’re like “dude, cool, got it”, instead of like “wait what the crap is going on?” It’s been so awesome because we know that we wouldn’t be in this situation if it wasn’t… you know, I can’t just put it as we’ve worked really hard for 17 years, that’s not enough, there’s people that worked hard their entire lives and never get ahead. We’re thankful, we don’t take it for granted; I think that’s what makes us stand out from other bands. We understand that it’s hard to come up with money to pay for shows; it’s hard to pay for parking in downtown Seattle. We’re just lucky be able to be a band and be on a tour that is so beneficial to us for our career.

Q.)   What would you consider the biggest challenges for bands these days?

A.)   Being able to afford to stay on the road; gas is not cheap, maintenance on vehicles isn’t cheap, maintaining band members is kind of hard because people don’t want to go on the road and be broke their whole lives. I understand that I get it. Just being able to afford to stay on the road, It’s not even about “oh buy our records, buy our whatever”, no it’s the whole thing. Bands’ being able to be supported by their fans is so important.  It all kind of trickles down,  whether It be for buying a t-shirt at a show, buying a ticket to get into a show, buying the record instead of just downloading it’s a bunch of things that just add up.  When you look at an average, a band in a van will spend about $200 a day on fuel if they’re pulling a trailer, it gets expensive. So I’d say finances it’s the hardest part.

Q.)   What advice would you offer new bands?

A.)   Don’t be lazy; don’t assume that you know how it’s going to go. Don’t assume that because you have good gear and your parents bought you a van, that you’re going to go out and you’re going to be able to tour and there’s going to be people at your shows, and you’re never going to break down, you’re never going to get homesick, you’re never going to play crappy shows because that’s part of it. Never take your fans for granted. Never take your support system at home for granted. Don’t assume that in 2 years you’re going to be on a bus. I think that a lot of bands think that they’re going to sign a record deal, and get a ton of marketing they’re going to be playing for hundreds of people a night, every night. And that’s just not the world we live in.

Q.)   You have a new album out, want to say anything to promote it?

A.)   Check it out. Check it out and see if it’s something your into. If people like aggressive music with lots of melody, and lots of pop influence I think it’s a record they would be interested. Of course we’d love for them to pick it up, but we’d also love to meet them, come to our shows come hang out!

Tin Man has just signed with Maurice the Fish Records!
For the past three years, Tin Man and various artists from the Fish have performed together and have been networking partners in the Pacific Northwest…it is only be-fitting that they now join this vast family of like-minded artists and partners.

Tin Man

Tin Man started in 2005 as a solo project for Rusty Parrish. Rusty really wanted to put together a backing band to flesh out his songs. After placing adds on Craigslist searching for the right people and months of frustration Rusty came upon a fantastic drummer by the name of Dave Smith who currently fills the drum chair. In late 2010 Rusty and Dave made the addition of Joy wood on Bass completing the rhythm section On keyboards is Tony T Bone C and rounding out the line up is Randy Casey on Guitar. Sounds like BoDeans, Tom Petty, The Wallflowers, or Train.

Maurice The Fish Records

Maurice the Fish Records is an un-conventional independent record label with one goal in mind…providing her artists with a platform in which they can maintain creative control of their music/vision and attain higher visibility in a highly competitive market.

The artists, staff and network partners lift one another up and work together in order to leverage their respective resources, talents and connections to share their music with the masses. Combining consistent effort, passion, love of the music industry and their individual contributions to create a synergy that is unique to an ever evolving industry.

Photo courtesy of Dani Winder (Hardrock Graphics)

Showbox Market

Spoken, Danko Jones, Volbeat

March 22^nd, 2013

The doors were set to open at 7pm, I arrived at the Showbox around 6:15pm to do an interview, and even then there was a line around the corner. While it was damn near freezing outside and I’m sure most of those fans had to deal with the same parking hassle I did, everyone was so pumped you could feel the energy emitting from the crowd. Once inside the energy only seemed to rise. The house was packed.

When the house lights went out and Spoken took the stage they were met with cheers from the full house.  They proceeded to launch in to a great high energy set of heavy hitting tunes with a balanced mix of guttural screams, melodic vocals and shredding guitars. By the second song singer Matt Baird was off the stage and climbing on the barricade getting as close to the crowd as he could without being in it. When he brought out a copy of their latest album Illusion and offered it to “the biggest Volbeat fan” in the house the crowd went nuts.

Next up Danko Jones! Somehow the crowd got even more excited, to the point that from my position in the photo pit I could feel the floorboards bending from the force of the mosh pit behind me.  Danko Jones delivered another high energy ass kicking set. A few songs in Danko stopped to talk to the crowd about how they are “one of those bands that likes to sing about fucking…” after dropping multiple F-bombs Danko spotted the kid in the audience and immediately, somewhat jokingly apologized not realizing it was “a family show”.

Finally the time came for Volbeat. As you can imagine the energy level at this point is through the roof.  Had I not known better I would have thought we were experiencing an earthquake. Volbeat was fucking awesome! They ripped through tons of their original material including some new tracks off of their upcoming album Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies (due out April 9^th, 2013). They also threw in some outstanding covers of Johnny Cash and brought Danko Jones back to the stage for the Misfits “Angel Fuck”, as well as a medley of Slayer, Judas Priest and Motorhead . Which lead singer Michael Poulsen sang with his spot on Lemmy impression.

Spoken photo courtesy of Dani Winder - (Hardrock Graphics)

It was a fucking amazing show. In the interest of full disclosure I’d only seen Volbeat once before and had never seen or heard of the supporting bands, Spoken and Danko Jones, but the level of excitement from the crowd was contagious and I was quickly infected with it. Now I’m hooked and I have a few new bands to add to my MP3 player.

Dani Winder – Hardrock Graphics

Check out the rest of the photos from the show here:
Volbeat w/Danko Jones & Spoken @  Showbox

Kladruby Gold deliver a refreshing hybrid of junkyard soul, indie americana, and rock n’ roll, grounded in danceable rhythm, twisting guitars and voices that crack in all the right places. This band of loveable strangers is proving to be a formidable force in the Seattle music scene.

http://kladrubygold.bandcamp.com/ (This features their latest single, OBC, off of their upcoming debut full-length album, Wilderness)

 ”After the Rain” is the first release from Seattle band “One Gun Shy”. Their sound is inspired by hard rock heavyweights such as Shinedown, Godsmack, Alter Bridge, Daughtry, and many more. It was engineered by Nate Yaccino (Soundgarden) and Dylan Fant in Robert Lang Studios (Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Death Cab for Cutie, and Alice in Chains) and One Shot Studios.

One Gun Shy consists of Singer/Guitarist Bobby Znak, Drummer Chris Womble, Bassist Oliver Spencer, Guitarist/Singer Nate Bushmaker, and as of March 2013, Guitarist Jason Burns. These men come from diverse musical backgrounds, and through their experiences and tastes create unique blend of rock that will satisfy almost any music lovers palate.

One Gun Shy will be spending the 2013 year playing shows to promote After the Rain, and hope to expand their geographic and demographic listening base. You can catch them in a city near you on tour this summer! Look for great things to come in 2013!

One Gun Shy Website

One Gun Shy on Reverbnation

One Gun Shy on Facebook

Photo by Debra L Rothenberg/FilmMagic

JOHN MAYER EMBARKING ON FIRST MAJOR TOUR IN THREE YEARS,

HIS FIRST SINCE RELEASE OF BORN AND RAISED

GORGE AMPHITHEATRE – GEORGE, WA

Saturday, July 20, 2013

On Sale Saturday, March 30th at 9:00 a.m.

Seattle, WA – Live Nation welcomes John Mayer to the Gorge Amphitheatre on Saturday, July 20, 2013.

Grammy Award-winning artist John Mayer will launch his first major tour in three years with a performance at Milwaukee’s Summerfest on July 6, it was announced today. This marks John’s first tour in support of Born and Raised, his latest studio album, and will run through the fall, with one dollar from each ticket sold benefitting NCIRE’s work supporting returning Veterans. American Idol winner Phillip Phillips will open for John along the tour route (with the exception of Tuscaloosa, New Orleans, Kansas City and Atlantic City). Tickets will be on sale beginning March 30th on LiveNation.com.

About John Mayer

Released in June 2012, Born and Raised, the fifth Columbia Records album from seven-time Grammy-winning singer, songwriter and guitarist John Mayer, debuted at Number One in six countries–Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Denmark, Netherlands and the United States–while hitting Number One on iTunes in thirty territories worldwide.

Mayer’s previous albums–Room for Squares (2001), Heavier Things (2003), Continuum (2006) and Battle Studies (2009)–have sold more than 17 million copies combined worldwide. John has won seven Grammy Awards and received an additional 11 nominations. He has been included in Time Magazine’s annual Time 100 list of the most influential contemporary thinkers, leaders, artists and entertainers, and twice featured on the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine’s annual “Guitar” issue.

A musician who confounds genre boundaries, John Mayer has performed and/or recorded with an extraordinary range of artists from the worlds of rock, blues, hip-hop, jazz, and country including Eric Clapton, BB King, Buddy Guy, T-Bone Burnett, Herbie Hancock, Dixie Chicks, Jay Z and Alicia Keys.

www.johnmayer.com

About Phillip Phillips

The same day that Phillip Phillips claimed his victory in American Idol’s season 11 finale, the 22-year-old singer/guitarist released “Home,” a debut single that showcases his rich, raspy vocals and masterful guitar skills. The Leesburg, Georgia-bred songwriter released his debut album The World From The Side Of The Moon (19 Entertainment/Interscope Records) November 2012 where it debuted at #4 on the Billboard Top 200 Album chart and #1 on the Billboard Rock Album chart. The album has since gone gold, and is quickly approaching platinum, as it jumps fifteen spots to #18 on the Billboard Top 200 this week. Phillips’ hit single “Home” has seen sales of over 4.2 million making it the most successful single of any American Idol winner. Phillips recently finished up a tour with Matchbox Twenty and is currently out on the road headlining a college tour in support of his new single “Gone, Gone, Gone.”

www.phillipphillips.com

About Tickets-for-Charity.com®

Tickets-for-Charity.com works with touring artists and professional sports teams to offer fans access to some of the best seats in the house and exclusive VIP experiences where every ticket benefits charity – turning fans into fanlanthropists. From Carrie Underwood and John Mayer to the Boston Red Sox and San Francisco Giants, Tickets-for-Charity.com has worked with dozens of artists and teams to generate millions of dollars in charitable donations for some of the world’s most respected charities. For more information on current Tickets-for-Charity programs and partners, please visit www.ticketsforcharity.com.

About Live Nation Entertainment

Live Nation Entertainment is the world’s leading live entertainment and ecommerce company, comprised of four market leaders: Ticketmaster.com, Live Nation Concerts, Artist Nation and Live Nation Network. Ticketmaster.com is the global event ticketing leader and one of the world’s top five ecommerce sites, with a database of over 119 million fans who visit our sites. Live Nation Concerts produces over 22,000 shows annually for more than 2,300 artists globally. Artist Nation is the world’s top artist management company, representing over 200 artists. These businesses power Live Nation Network, the leading provider of entertainment marketing solutions, enabling nearly 800 advertisers to tap into the 250 million consumers Live Nation delivers annually through its live event and digital platforms. For additional information, visit www.livenation.com/investors.

Tickets go on sale Saturday, March 30 at 9:00 a.m. at LiveNation.com, all Ticketmaster outlets, or charge by phone 1-800-745-3000. All tickets subject to applicable service charges and fees.

Dates and times subject to change without notice.

DEVILWOOD WITH THE RUSTY CLEAVERS

& LEE RUDE AT THE CENTRAL SALOON MAY 10

The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Evil

SEATTLE, WA March 19, 2013 – Devilwood returns to the Central Saloon with the Rusty Cleavers and Lee Rude, the show starts at 9 pm and admission is $5.

Like the early Los Angeles music scene in the 1960’s, with groups like Coven and Black Widow, many bands in the Pacific Northwest are finding their voices combining folk and early rock music influences. May 10 will showcase three up and coming musical acts that represent the darker side of Washington’s folk and rock scenes.

Devilwood takes elements from folk music and early rock like Jefferson Airplane. The Northwest quintet spins cautionary yarns of the occult, eldritch tales, and love. Migrating from Ellensburg in 2012 the group has played with The Dusty 45’s, The Goddamn Gallows, Dead Man, and more. Their album Osmanthus Americanus is available for download on Amazon.

The Rusty Cleavers perform their own brand of whiskey drenched Americana. They are currently working on their first full-length album and have shared the stage with bands such as CFA, Girl Trouble, Oops I Stepped in Some Christ and more. The Cleavers are Tacoma’s Prodigal Drunks.

Lee Rude has been making music his whole life. He writes sad and beautiful songs about addiction, loss, and hope in the vein of classic Americana.  Lee has recorded with Mike McCready of Pearl Jam, and opened for Nick Cave. Established in Seattle for over 20 years, he has played sold out shows at the Showbox, the Moore Theater, and more. He thinks he may be stupid, but can’t tell for sure.

The Central Saloon is located at 207 1^st Avenue South Seattle, WA 98104-3460. The Central Saloon has been a Washington since 1892 and has seen everything from loggers and sailors to winos and aristocrats. It has hosted many big Seattle bands including Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney.

You can stream songs on each group’s Reverbnation Page: Devilwood, The Rusty Cleavers, and Lee Rude. For further information please contact Devilwoodbooking@gmail.com.