Showing posts with label fishhead music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fishhead music. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Friday, September 21, 2012
Friday, May 20, 2011
Win Tix: The Radiators Farewell Tour on Friday, June 3rd at Best Buy Theater!
The Last Roundup: The Radiators Farewell Tour
The Radiators were formed in New Orleans in 1978, the result of a casual afternoon jam session in keyboardist Ed Volker’s garage. Volker, drummer Fran Bua, Jr.and guitarist Camile Baudoin were then members of the Rhapsodizers. Guitarist Dave Malone and bassist Reggie Scanlan were in another band, Roadapple, and the magic the 5 musicians conjured up that afternoon was just what they’d all been searching for. Later that same week they learned several original songs that they still play today.Best Buy Theater1515 BroadwayNew York, NYFor more information or to purchase tickets, please visit:
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
"Hidden Track" Picture Show: The Radiators @ Sullivan Hall
Back in 1978, Ed Volker, Dave Malone and a few fellow musicians turned a few beers and five hour jam in his garage into a 33 year career together. As The Radiators they played with such luminaries as Gregg Allman, Maceo Parker, George Porter, Jr. and Bob Weir, to name a few, and in such long gone NYC venues as The Ritz, Tramps and Tobacco Road. Along the way, fellow musicians became brothers and fans became family as the Radiators became affectionately known as “The World’s Best Bar Band”. Playing two packed evenings at Sullivan Hall, fans from as far away as Boston and Washington, DC came to share in what was expected to be the final appearance for beloved keyboardist “Zeke” and this lineup in New York City.
[All photos by Jeremy Gordon]
Treated to a mix of covers from The Beatles and Van Morrison and personal favorites of their own, many of the songs including How Do You Feel, Funeral March and The End Is Not in Sight were filled with deeper meaning and tinged with both euphoria and sadness in a truly New Orleans way. Even the final song of the run, Train Kept A Rollin’, speaks to the future of the band and its remaining band members. Even if you’re not a member of the loyal Fishheads, we suggest you check out one of their New Year’s run shows in Ardmore, PA or as a real treat, their final appearance at the upcoming New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on May 8th.
Sullivan Hall
New York, NY
11/17/10Set 1: Tuning – Intro, Sunglasses On, Between Two Fires, Oh La La, Domino > All The Good Ones Are Gone > Everybody’s Got Something Hide Except Me & My Monkey > Linin’ Track > Domino, Falling Through The Bottom Line, Danang, Daddy’s Coming Home, Grief Snafu, Good Things, Going Up To The Country, City Of Refuge, Outro
Set 2: Tuning – Intro, Down By The River, Circus Life, The Man Who Lost His Head, Honey Bee > Keep On Popping That Shine, Hide You Love Away (false start), Hide Your Love Away, Number Two Pencil, Fools Go First, Lovely You, Kenny’s Call Em’ Back, St. James Infirmary, Party Ain’t Over Till I Say It So > Whole Lotta Shakin’, Outro
Sullivan Hall
New York, NY
11/18/10Set 1: Tuning, Young Neil Intro, Dreaming Out Loud, Texas Chainsaw Massacre > Willie & The Hand Jive > Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Brand New Tennessee Waltz, How Do You Feel, Funeral March (riff), Automatic, One Eye Jack, JigSaw, Last Time, Sparkplug, You Can’t Always Get Want, Monkey In Her Heart > Screwloose, Outro
Set 2: Tuning – Intro, Brown Eye Girl *, March On Down To Valentine, Gimmie A Rainbow That’s For Real, I’ve Got A Feeling > Midnight Special > I’ve Got A Feeling, Empire Getaway, Where Is The Soul Of The World ?, Lila, The End Is Not In Sight, Soul Kitchen, Kenny’s Call Em Back, Ride Captain Ride, Train Kept A Rollin’
* Young Neil On Vocals
[Setlist via Kevin Cawley]
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Relix Revisited:The Radiators: On the Road from New Orleans
The Radiators have maintained the same line-up ever since the group was founded in 1977. Last week, however, the band announced that keyboard player and principal songwriter Ed Volcker will be leaving the band in 2011. With this in mind, we look back to this account of the Rads, which ran in the December 1986 issue of Relix.
On East Thirteenth Street, just before 9 p.m., a well dressed couple approaches the t-shirt crowd waiting to get into the Lone Star Café and asks no one in particular the inevitable question: “Who’s playing tonight?” “The Radiators,” someone answers. “Who are they?” “They’re good.” “Where do they come from?”
That seems like a good question to put to Radiator Ed Volcker a few minutes later in the Radiators’ dressing room. “Love,” says Volcker, “pain, the wilderness, horses, birds, fish, barbeque, water, tequila, closing down the paraphernalia establishments…”—wait a minute. An easier, if somewhat less thorough answer might be New Orleans. That’s where the Radiators came together in 1977, after years playing in other local bands and backing up the likes of Jimmy McCracklin, Charles Brown, David Bromberg, Catfish Hodge, Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, Earl King, Ernie K-Doe, and Professor Longhair. Originally, there was a group called the Dogs, which gradually metamorphosed into the then five-member Radiators, with Volcker as he described it, starting as janitor and working his way down to keyboards (and vocals), Dave Malone on guitar and vocals, Camile Baudoin, also on guitar and vocals, Reggie Scanlan on bass, and Franklin Bua on drums. Percussionist Glenn Sears was formally added to the band in 1983, after endless sit-ins.
“It’s just a lot of old friendships,” says Volcker. “We have fun, we’re starting to make a little money, we’re starting to change clothes every day, it’s great.” To elaborate a little on that, the Radiators spent years playing in the New Orleans area, becoming a favorite at Tulane University as well as at club like Tipitina’s, but not attracting much attention from the world at large or the record companies in particular. Three years on, they formed their own record label, Croacker Records, and issued the single that started “fish head music,” a crawfish tribute called, “Such the Head, Squeeze the Tip.” They also released a double live album recorded at Tipitina’s Work Done On Premises.
The album revealed a tight band that had taken its New Orleans influences and infiltrated them through a rock ‘n’ roll sensibility formed by listening to bands like the Grateful Dead, the Band, the Allman Brothers, and Little Feat. Volcker and Malone traded lead vocals, Malone and Baudoin played twin and alternating leads, and with titles like “Cannibal Girls,” “Lord You Light Up My Pipe,” “Bad Taste Of Your Stuff,” and “Low Life,” songwriter Volcker defined the lives and times of the common man. Or, as he succinctly put it, “There’s no life/ Like that low life/ And that low life/ It’s a wild life.” In 1981, they followed with another single, “My Whole World Flies Apart,” and another album, Heat Generation. (All this vinyl is available from Croaker Records, New Orleans, LA.)
By 1982, the Radiators had started to spread fish head music beyond the borders of New Orleans. “Starting about three years ago,” says Volcker, “we spend about three months out of the year on the road, and usually in two-week increments. Increments—sounds like something dirty, but it’s not.” By now, those increments have taken the band throughout the South and Midwest, and on the present tour, they’d taken in Eastern seaboard dates starting in Washington, D.C., and soon to head up to Boston. “Marco Polo is our hero,” explains Volcker, “and the Earl of Sandwich is our guiding spirit.”
One place they can be heard is on Epic Records’ 1985 sampler, Epic Presents The Unsigned, where they have a track called, “This Wagon’s Gonna Roll.” But probably the best place to see them is in a packed bar like the Lone Star. Volcker, while dispensing information, is also writing out three set lists for the band, lists that make it look like this’ll be a long night.
Downstairs, the obvious comparisons, to the Allmans and Little Feat, only work because the Radiators suggest the quality of those bands. If Baudoin is capable of mixing parts of Duane Allman with Robbie Robertson and much of his own style, it’s only because of years of playing that give him an encyclopedic style. Volcker’s swampy vocals recall Lowell George, but they reach back to George’s own influences in New Orleans music. This is a hybrid band, steeped in much of the best music in America has made in the last forty years. In other words, they do sound like a lot like the Radiators.
They start with the “Boomerang,” a highly danceable song whose inventive slide work recalls the best of the Allmans, while the melody and rhythm pure Radiators. “Like Dreams Do” follows with a lovely riff carried by synthesizers and percussion, and proves just as moving to the capacity crowd. Then it’s on to an oldie, “One-Eyed Jack,” from the first album, a tale of gambling set to a reggaeish beat mixed with second line rhythms and infused with the spirit of Pigpen McKernan circa “Operator.” “Low Life” is introduced as “the Louisiana state song.” The lyrics appear in their entirety above, but it’s the music that counts, as the song is turned into an extended, steamy showcase for the guitar work of Malone and Baudoin.
Here is a bar band that has convinced its audience completely playing all original material. Now they turn to covers, starting with the Beatles “I’ve Got a Feeling,” which turns out to be a perfect vehicle for a two-guitar band, and leads into a medley with “Slow Down,” Perkins by way of Beatles by way of Radiators. Having established their pop credentials, they turn to R&B and soul, combining Bobby Blue Bland’s “Ain’t Nothing You Can Do” with the Staple Singers’ “I’ll Take You There,” before closing with Johnny Cash’s “Cocaine Blues.” Did you ever go to see a band and figure they had the same record collection that you do?
It’s hard to imagine, given the cheering in the bar, that the Radiators will be able to avoid wider exposure, but they’ve been around enough to be skeptical. “There’s a big old world out there,” Volcker had said just before they went on, “and hopefully we can keep away from it as much as possible.”
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Nightmare on the Misery Train: The Radiators to Break Up in June
O
ne of New Orleans’ most beloved bands of the last third-of-a-century, the Radiators will be no more come June of 2011. According to an email from guitarist Dave Malone, the Rads will be finishing off all of the dates currently on their schedule, including the time-honored traditions of their New Years, Mardi Gras MOMs Ball and Jazz Fest shows. Their legions of fans are known affectionately as Fisheads, after the Grateful Dead followers, the Deadheads.
Guitarists Camile Baudoin and Dave Malone, keyboardist Ed Volker, bassist Reggie Scanlan, and drummer Frank Bua first began playing in 1978, becoming a popular draw first on the Tulane campus and then at clubs around town, like Jimmy’s and Tipitina’s, gradually building an audience throughout the South with consistent touring. They put out records independently until being signed to Epic Records in 1987, recording the album Law of the Fish during a wave of major label releases of New Orleans music in the late ’80s. Their combination of rock with classic New Orleans R&B and funk remained one of the most popular local draws for the next two decades, recording a dozen albums and playing over 4500 concerts. They closed the Gentilly Stage at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival annually, and their MOMs Ball performances are the stuff of legend.
The email stated, “The guys want to whole-heartedly thank their long time fans for making this ride as amazing as it has been. They truly feel that their fans are the best and most dedicated in the world and have kept their traveling circus alive.” There’s no word yet on a reason for the impending break-up, but the individual members plan to make announcements soon about their next moves.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Upcoming: The Radiators @ Rockin' The River Cruise next Thursday
New Orleans Swamp-Rockers The Radiators: NYC Rockin' the River Concert Cruise
Buy 1/2 PRICE TICKETS HERE.
Legendary New Orleans rockers The Radiators perform on a Rockin' the River Concert Cruise through New York Harbor. Over 31 years, the "Rads" have built up a dedicated fan base who turn out to hear the group's marathon sets, which feature new material, old favorites and eclectic cover versions in different combinations every night.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Contest: The Radiators "Wild and Free" CD Giveaway
TheBluesBloggers 1st Anniversary Celebration Continues with a Radiators CD Giveaway:
Here’s your chance to take home the latest disc by The Radiators…
The Rules Are Simple
All you have to do to enter is click on the link below. An email form will open. Make sure you put your name, email address and on the subject line write “Wild and Free CD Giveaway.” All names will be entered into a random draw. One lucky winner will be named when the draw takes place on November 1st at 11:00 pm eastern time in the U.S. That’s it!
Click here to enter.I really loved listening to this disc and I know you will too. It’s a lot of fun and a great 30th Anniversary retrospective of their work… Fish head fans you are in for a real treat if you haven’t listened this to this already! Make sure you check out my review of Wild and Free by going to the link here.
For more news about the band and upcoming shows, you can go to their website at TheRadiators.org
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Upcoming: The Radiators bring their NolaSwampRock to the NYC area
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Friday, July 11, 2008
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