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Adam Ezra Group
Adam Ezra and his band have never been afraid to rewrite the rules of business for their independent, folk-inspired, rock band. For years now at shows they have offered their CD's to fans for whatever they'd like to pay, (fans are also encouraged to take albums for free if they don't have a lot of money to spend). Throughout the band's history they have made playing benefits and fundraisers a priority, despite a grueling 200 show per year tour schedule.
After learning this, if you're expecting to find a bunch of hippies driving a VW bus around the country, handing out flowers and releasing doves, you're wrong. AEG is a serious group of musicians, as noted by The New England Music Awards who bestowed upon them "Band of the Year" honors in 2013, as well as "album of the year" in 2012. Boston's WERS, The Outside The Box Fest, and Alternate Route Magazine all compare their live shows to that of Bruce Springsteen.
Ezra claims that there is sound reasoning behind all of the unconventional things they do, as well as their latest efforts to deliver as much live musical content to their fans as possible.
"We still make money on our CD's, even with our 'pay what you can' policy. We also happen to sell about 5 times more albums than we would if we were selling them at a set price. That, along with our humanitarian work, helps us create a powerful community of people around our music and touring. This community is the engine that drives us. We owe them everything. Right now we want to get them as much of our music as possible...all the time."
Recently partnering with Presonus, AEG is now recording many of their live performances, and through their Presonus gear, remixing the tracks post-show.
"We are coming up with new music all the time and constantly rearranging older material," says fiddle player, Corinna Smith, "It's so exciting to be able to share this through our live recordings!"
Of course, live recordings are nothing new. For decades bootleg recordings of bands like The Grateful Dead, and Phish have been coveted amongst fans.
"I used to love listening to my Grateful Dead bootlegs all the time," says the group's charismatic percussionist, Turtle. "Man, those tapes sounded bad!"
Josh Gold, keyboardist and engineer for the album puts it another way, "We have an energy on stage that we've never been able to capture on CD. We've been investing in learning how to take tracks from live shows and create studio quality recordings for our fans. I absolutely love how the album came out, and can't wait for people to be able to hear it! And we've grabbed so many new songs that we're already digging into the 3rd album in the Better Than Bootleg series."
Boston native Adam Ezra has been making music for 15 years now. The Group has grown gradually from what was originally a solo, acoustic act, now touring with 6 musicians on stage including Ezra on vocals and guitar, Corinna Smith on fiddle, Turtle on hand percussion, Josh Gold on keys, Francis Hickey on bass, and Alex Martin on drums. Their performances have become renowned for their energy and uniqueness, drawing from Ezra's prolific songwriting catalog. The band members themselves never know what they're going to play until the get on stage, and it's not unusual to find them wielding trash can lids, accordions, banjos, spoons, 2x4's and other unexpected implements over the course of and AEG set. When the feeling hits them, they've also been known to take the occasional field trip off stage to sing one unplugged with the audience. BTB2 marks Ezra's 10th album release.
AEG's 2015 tour schedule that will have them touring all over the country, taking their contagious live show, passion for community, and unconventional business practices to audiences wherever they go.
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LocationBirdseye Lounge (View)
41 Vaughan Mall
Portsmouth, NH 03802
United States
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