|
Event
Old Flame, Workman Song, & The Pinkerton Raid at the Stone Church
Old Flame is a machine of resistance. Born in the Western MA, DIY scene, the indie-rock band spins grit and honey-rasp vocals into a psychedelic post-punk nostalgia with an afterglow of raw blues. Old Flame is comprised of Emma Ayres (Emma June), Sam Perry (Dios Trio), Ken Birchall (Eric Culberson band), and Nate Mondschein (The Rooks).
Since forming in 2017, Old Flame has been nominated by The Deli Magazine as New England Artist of the Month, and released Wolf In The Heather EP. The album documents the rise of the Trump presidency, and was lauded by The Valley Advocate for its acid-tongued lyrics that rail against corporate capitalism and capture the spirit of proto-punk in a bottle; a rollicking anarchistic flair for damning it all to hell. In the words of Ear To The Ground Music: "Love this sound, retro and brand new all at the same time. Toes the line of vintage & psych rock. Addictively good."
Workman Song has all of the hallmarks of the well-kept secret, its just that the secret has been getting out. At the center of this peculiar labor of love is prodigious singer-songwriter Sean McMahon, his soul-stirring voice and his storytelling: a dialogue with friends, lovers, and God which forms a prolific body of work spanning the intimately folksy to the oddly psychedelic, drawing lines between Dylan, Bowie, Buckley, and the Dead.
A native of Western Massachusetts, McMahon founded the project in Brooklyn in 2013 as a vehicle for his vision, an earnest, multi-faceted world of creative sub-plots, characters, and special guests. McMahon at turns embodies the plaintive troubadour, soul laid bare; Ruben Smiley, the glam rock neo-con; Ion Zelig, the avant-electro-pop biblical archaeologist; or he is one of the Brothers McMahon, the classic live lineup which prominently features his brother -- and Justin Vernon-approved organist -- Griffin McMahon and an infinite setlist that shamelessly drops hits by The Smiths, Aerosmith, and Fleetwood Mac.
If the story seems convoluted, it is, and will continue to be. Such is Workman Song. As a performer, McMahon, that rare combination of vocal powerhouse and guitar hero, is a dynamic and unpredictable chameleon: a half-ghost with a wraithlike presence, a shaman-esque leading man with casualneo-psychedelic hippy swagger, and even that classic glam rock sex driven Robert Plant like forcewith the voice of an angel and a screaming fisher cat combined. McMahon, as Workman Song, has released 5 EPs, 1 full-length mixtape, and has several singles on power rotation on Northeast radio. Recent festival appearances include Green River Festival, The Wild Honey Pies Welcome Campers, and The Outlaw Roadshow. He has shared bills with Big Thief, Margaret Glaspy, The Ghost Of A Saber Tooth Tiger, and even Carly Simon (once, at a fundraiser unexpectedly.)
Singer-songwriter Jesse James DeConto grew up singing in church and with his dad & siblings. Like it is for so many people these days, Jesses relationship with spirituality is complicated. Imagining a better world can offer people a lot of hope, but as soon as you start to talk about the metaphysical, whatevers beyond what your senses can tell you, it starts to feel impossibly abstract and, to top it all off, has the power to make people hate each other, he says. In spite of all this, theres something cosmic about singing with other people. You just feel it. Beliefs divide us, politics divide us, but somehow music, even old church music, can unite us. Wheres the star to lead us home?
Jesse asks early on The Pinkerton Raids fourth full-length album, WHERE THE WILDEST SPIRITS FLY. And the answer, over and over again, in a repeating cycle of clear-eyed truth-telling and undeterred hope, is simply this: We sing together.
For nearly three years, Jesse and other band members have been leading barroom sing-alongs back home in North Carolina, gravitating toward the songs that have soundtracked social movements since the 1940s: Sam Cookes A Change is Gonna Come, What the World Needs Now, made famous by Dionne Warwick, and countless songs by Dylan, Guthrie and Seeger.
Rather than chasing a particular sound, Jesse worked with producer David Wimbish (The Collection) and engineer Jeff Crawford (Skylar Gudasz) at Arbor Ridge Studios to serve the melodies and invite the listener to sing along. Drummer/trumpeter Scott McFarlane, bassist Jon DePue, saxophonist Tony Sali and guitarist/percussionist Steven DeConto form the core of the band, and the new recordings capture the sing-along vibe with a choir joining in on the catchy choruses.
The Pinkerton Raid has shared stages with The Ballroom Thieves, Annabelle's Curse, Forlorn
Strangers, Lowland Hum, Noah Gundersen and Denison Witmer. The release of TOLERANCE ENDS, LOVE BEGINS in 2017 brought the band from Durham to Chicago to Washington DC, with slots at the Festival for the Eno and Shakori Hills, a session at Daytrotter and critical acclaim from PASTE, NO DEPRESSION, POPDOSE, AQUARIAN WEEKLY and more.
The title of the new album is a lyric from the song Thin Places, conjuring the Celtic idea of an earth charged with spirit. These songs were shaped by wanderings from the South to the Midwest to northern New England, and the band will bring them back on the road in 2018, in search of more thin places.
|
|
 |
LocationThe Stone Church (Brattleboro, VT) (View)
210 Main st
Brattleboro, VT 05301
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: Yes! |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: No |
|
Contact
|
