A giant weekend of live music ahead. Here's a breakdown.SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 20
DieAlps! CD Release Show with Rec Center, Radarmen There’s something very tender and charming about the lightly-accented dulcet-toned vocals of Austrian-born guitar-strumming DieAlps! frontwoman Cornelia Calcaterra. She enchants, implores and laments with seeming ease in her bands new five-track self-titled EP of baroque-flavored melody-rich waltzing-and-driving indie pop, out officially on Tues., Sept. 23 via New Granada Records, and celebrated a few days prior at this release show with another tuneful local indie pop band, Rec Center, and post-something alt rock trio Radarmen. Full review of the DieAlps! EP here. (New World Brewery, Ybor City)
Experience Hendrix Now in its ninth incarnation, the Jimi Hendrix tribute brings a revolving door of first-class axe-slingers onto the road to play his or her own distinctive yet reverential interpretations of material by the late guitarist as backed by a fine band and anchored by Jimi Hendrix Experience/Band of Gypsys bassist Billy Cox. Among the players in the 2014 lineup – Buddy Guy, Jonny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Black Label Society’s Zakk Wylde (also known for his work with Ozzy Osbourne), The Black Crowes’ Rich Robinson, Eric Johnson, and Ana Popovic. (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater)
Bogus Pomp Orchestra These days, appearances by the prominent, few-decades-old Frank Zappa tribute band are few and far between. Even rarer are the ones that find Bogus Pomp joined by symphonic guests, a trend first realized with The Florida Orchestra back in the 1990s and then re-imagined in a reduced format in the mid-’00s. This Saturday night presentation (90 minutes with an intermission) finds guitar shredder/Pomp primary Jerry Outlaw and Co. (bassist Alex Pasut, drummer Craig Benson, keyboardists Rick Olson and Ross Jobson, trumpeter Keith Hedger, trombone player David Manson, percussionist/vibes man David Coash and David Pate on saxophones and flute) joined by a 15-piece chamber ensemble. Setlists from past symphony-backed Pomp shows have included “Village of the Sun,”“Son of Orange County,”“Montana,”“Cheepnis,”“Peaches en Regalia” and “Uncle Remus,” and a few scores specially adapted for this night are also planned. (Palladium Theater, St. Petersburg)
Skipper’s is 34! with Trae Pierce & T Stone, Ari & the Alibis, Dropin Pickup, Delta Swamp Rats, TC Carr & All Star Bolts of Blue feat. Josh Nelms, The Mud Flappers, Southern Train, Impulse, Uncle John’s Band, Mitch Lind & the Lagerheads, Come Back Alice, Galbraith Group In celebration of serving the Tampa Bay area good food, great tunes and positive vibes for nearly three-and-a-half decades, the Skipperdome presents 12 hours of free music by all the local and Florida regional talent that regularly hits its stage throughout the year, from the noon-time opening set of classic rock odes by siblings-fueled instrumental power trio Galbraith Group, to the funk n’ blues attack of bass-thumping talk-boxing Trae Pierce and his T-Stone band, which kicks off at 11 p.m. and rages to the party’s midnight conclusion. (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa)
WD-HAN CD Release Show with StoneGrey, Armando, The Porch Sessions The name of Clearwater’s WD-HAN stands for “We Don’t Have a Name,” their music is high-spirited percussive-stomping indie rock soaked in gospel-blues hues and marked by the honeyed high-toned vocals of frontman Spencer Barnes sliding against the more sultry backing intones of drummer Lea Campbell, and this show celebrates the release of their debut full-length, King of Castles. (Local 662, St. Petersburg)
A Great Big Pile of Leaves with Diamond Youth, Prawn, Field Mouse On this “Topshelf Records Tour,” the Boston indie rock label that reps Braid sends four of its bands onto the road in support of releases that dropped over the past year. A Great Big Pile of Leaves hails from Brooklyn and crafts charming pop-sensible alt rock with surprising vocal and instrumental turns, like the darling ‘ooh-ooh-oohs” and fuzzy bass breakdowns in “Snack Attack” off 2013 sophomore LP You’re Always On My Mind. Diamond Youth brings the Baltimore love, a crunchy ’90s-vibing sound lightly evocative of Queens of the Stone Age; New Jersey’s Prawn pits emo-tinged multi-voice vocals against post rock full of clean ribboning guitar solos; and Field Mouse brings feminine appeal to the showcase, the dulcet intones of frontwoman Rachel Browne (with harmonies by bassist Saysha Heinzman) balancing the harder-edged reverbed rock moments and complementing the dreamier shoegaze forays. (Epic Problem, Tampa)
Duncan Sheik The “Barely Breathing” AC alternative singer-songwriter has spent much of the past decade composing music for off-Broadway productions (American Psycho and Spring Awakening among them), and his output reflects this artistic turn; his last release of original material in 2009, Whisper House, featured selections from a stage musical of the same name. Duncan Sheik followed that with Cover 80’s in 2011, which finds him re-imagining songs by British artists, including “Shout” by Tears for Fears and Depeche Mode’s “Stripped.” (Largo Cultural Center, Largo)
Hawthorne Heights / The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus with New Empire, Famous Last Words, The Ongoing Concept, Everybody Run The latest road show presented by To Write Love on Her Arms – the non-profit organization that offers hope and help to individuals struggling with addiction and mental health issues – is this “Hope Revolution Tour.” Heading up the bill is Ohio-bred post-hardcore outfit Hawthorne Heights, celebrating the 10-year anniversary of their breakthrough album The Silence In Black and White, and Florida alt rock faves The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. (Brass Mug, Tampa)
The Pangaea Project No.53: Infinite Third with Other Organs, Raef, Chris Charbonneau, Mother Sky, Direwood The pseudonym of North Carolina musician Billy Mays III, Infinite Third toys with melody and dissonance in his experimental post-rock instrumentals, the atmospheric washes of sound and more driving passages propelled by ambient synthesizers and guitars that deliver both clean solos and pedal-effected textures. (The Venture Compound, St. Petersburg)
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 21
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers with Steve Winwood Tom Petty is among Florida’s proudest rock n’ roll exports and he’s managed to remain relevant for the nearly four decades he’s been active, with radio staples spanning the 1970s (“American Girl,”“Breakdown”), ‘80s (“Refugee,”“Waiting,”“Free Fallin’,”“I Won’t Back Down”) and ‘90s (“Learning to Fly,”“Into the Great Wide Open,”“Mary Jane’s Last Dance”), as well as a 13th studio album, 2014’s Hypnotic Eye, that debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 charts. Most surprisingly, this is the first time Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers ever had a No. 1 album. (Amalie Arena, downtown Tampa)
Squeedlepuss with Holey Miss Moley What the fuck is a ‘squeedle,’ you ask? Pure nonsense, until you add the ‘puss’– then it’s a jammy Jacksonville sextet with two keys players, two guitarists, a bassist and drummer kicking out groove-bumping tempo-changing jazz fusion in songs like “Chicken and Waffles,”“Something to Crow About” and “Riding the Funky Hippo.” (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa)
O Som Do Jazz An evening of ‘60s-hued samba and Brazilian jazz, Bossa Nova, Balanço and MPB with sultry feminine croons in Portuguese and English by Rio de Janeiro singer Andrea Moraes Manson, who leads O Som Do Jazz through material by, among others, Tom Jobim, Milton Nascimento, Edu Lobo and Baden Powell. (Catherine Hickman Theater, Gulfport)
The Chainsmokers A electro and progressive house DJ, production and songwriting duo from NYC (Andrew Taggart and Alex Pall) that broke into the EDM market with 2014 hit, “#Selfie,” which has nearly 220 million views on YouTube to date and earned The Chainsmokers a major label deal with Republic Records. (Hogan’s Beach, Tampa)
Ol’ Dirty Sundays: MC Whipper Whip & Charlie Chase ODS Resident DJs Casper and LeSage present a one-for-the-record-books edition of the weekly hip hop dance party when two legends of hip hop hit the courtyard – Bronx-spawned Latino emcee Prince Whipper Whip, who got his start as a member of Grand Wizard Theodore & Fantastic Five (“Can I Get A Soul Clap”) in the early 1980s and has collabed with the likes of Afrika Bambaataa and De La Soul; and Charlie Chase of the Cold Crush Brothers fame, who mans the decks and kicks out the jams behind Whip’s rhymes. (Crowbar, Ybor City)
ALSO THIS WEEKEND
Falling Axe Festival 3 w/Kadaver Dolls/Break This Curse/A Good Day To Die/Dark Summer/Prevail/Bane Of Kings Sat., Sept. 20, State Theatre, St. Petersburg
Alesana w/Megosh/The Funeral Portrait/The Things They Carried Sat., Sept. 20, Orpheum, Ybor City
Kenny Chesney Tribute Show Sat., Sept. 20, Jannus Live, St. Petersburg
Pretty Voices w/Little Sheba & The Shamans Sat., Sept. 20, Ringside Café, St. Petersburg
John Kelly Band w/Denver Public Library Sat., Sept. 20, Ale and the Witch, St. Petersburg
Rebekah Pulley Sat., Sept. 20, Hideaway Café& Recording Studio, St. Petersburg
Couches/Article 47/Early Forms/Part Time Models Sat., Sept. 20, Fubar, St. Petersburg
Forceblast/Wicked Evil Grin/Sinful Smile/Fusion Strain/Demented Truth Sat., Sept. 20, Pegasus Lounge, Tampa
TC Carr’s All Star Bolts of Blue Band Sun., Sept. 21, Ella’s Americana Folk Art Café, Tampa
Black Coast Royals/Signs of Iris/Fighting The Silence Sun., Sept. 21, The Venture Compound, St. Petersburg
J Boog w/Hot Rain/Inna Vision Sun., Sept. 21, Jannus Live, St. Petersburg