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Event
The Features/Hollerado at Shakespeare's Lower Level
The Features:
Matt Pelham, Roger Dabbs, Don Sergio, and Parrish Yaw attended middle school together in Sparta, Tennessee, a rural town that at the time had a population of less than 5,000. Pelham, Dabbs, and Sergio started a band when they were in the eighth grade out of boredom, and they started playing covers of Camper Van Beethoven, Neil Young, Guns N' Roses, and others. As they continued through high school, they continued to play together at local events like parties and talent shows, then graduated to playing at various bars and clubs around nearby college town Murfreesboro and in Nashville.
Within a few years they had become a fixture of Murfreesboro and nearby Nashville, and soon signed a deal with Spongebath Records, a local independent label that featured several of the biggest rock acts in the Nashville area such as Self, The Katies, and Fluid Ounces. Their first release, a six-song self-titled EP, was released in 1997.
Once they graduated from high school, Pelham and Dabbs moved to Murfreesboro to study music at Middle Tennessee State University while Sergio and Yaw went to Tennessee Technological University in nearby Cookeville. It was here that Pelham and Dabbs brought classmate Jason Taylor on to play drums, and Sergio brought Yaw on to play keyboards. Murfreesboro was a much larger town than Sparta, and The Features began to play at various bars and clubs around town, eventually dropping out of college to focus on the band.
In 1998, the band recorded a full-length LP for Spongebath. The album was never released, although two tracks from the sessions, "Thursday" and "Rabbit March", were released as a limited 10" vinyl record. Around this time, original members Don Sergio and Jason Taylor both left the band. Taylor was replaced by Rollum Haas.
In 1999-2000, they recorded their second full-length LP with Matt Mahaffey at his studio in Murfreesboro, which was also never released. In 2001, they released The Beginning EP. Their incessant touring and critical buzz led to a deal with Universal Records. Universal re-released The Beginning EP in 2004, and followed with their first-officially released album, Exhibit A. The band gained a lot of exposure opening for a small town Oklahoma band entitled Kings of Leon on various tours. Due to differences between the band and Universal, their contract was dissolved shortly before the scheduled recording sessions for their second album, leaving The Features without a label. In the wake of this decision, keyboardist Parrish Yaw left the band, to be replaced later by Mark Bond.[1] The Features went on to record and self-release the Contrast EP in 2006 and the Some Kind of Salvation LP in 2008.
Recent activities[edit source | editbeta]
Currently, the band consists of Matthew Pelham, Roger Dabbs, Mark Bond, and Rollum Haas.
In 2007, they won the international Diesel:U:Music Awards, placing first in the Rock/Indie category and in the Public Vote award.[2]
After winning the regional competition "Bonnaroo 8 Off 8th" in Nashville by placing first with a panel of judges and a public vote, the band performed at the 2009 Bonnaroo Music Festival.[3][4]
In 2010, the band was the opening act for Manchester Orchestra, an indie rock band from Atlanta that shares a similar sound. Their song "From Now On" appeared on the Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 soundtrack, released in November 2011. In a review of the soundtrack for Allmusic, Heather Phares called attention to the song, saying that it "turns that happiness [of finding a soulmate] into energetic pop."[5]
In 2012, their song "How It Starts" was featured in a commercial for the 2013 Ford Mustang.[citation needed] In late 2012, the band went on a brief European tour with concerts in Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, London, Amsterdam, Berlin and Gent.[6][7][8][9][10] In May 2012, they announced that they were working on a new full-length album.[11] Their fourth album, the eponymous The Features, was released on May 14, 2013.[12]
Hollerado:
Three of the four members of Hollerado grew up on the same street in Manotick, Ontario a suburb of Ottawa. Hollerado later recorded and periodically lived in Montreal, Quebec where they gained attention as one of Montreal's "top up-and-coming bands".[1][2] The line-up includes lead singer and guitarist Menno Versteeg, lead guitarist Nixon Boyd, bassist Dean Baxter, and drummer Jake Boyd.[3] Since its inception in April 2007[4] the band has shared the stage with hard-rocker Andrew W.K. and Montreal's The Stills and Malajube, and was hand-picked by Jack White to open for his newest group, The Dead Weather.[5][6][7] The band has also played festivals such as SXSW, Pop Montreal, and Sled Island in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.[4][5][6]
The band competed in the 2009 round of The Big Money Shot, a battle-of-the-bands competition put on by Ottawa radio station Live 88.5. Hollerado won, receiving a grand prize of $250,000 which accommodated their tour and equipment expenses.
In April and May 2009, the band accompanied The Stills and other Canadian indie rock delegates to the TransmitCHINA conference, an event established to promote cultural and musical exchange between the Asian and Canadian music markets.[8][9] Hollerado played the conference showcase in Beijing to kick off its two-week tour of China.[8]
In 2009, Hollerado self-released its debut album Record in a Bag as a free digital download.[10] Originally from the band's Demo in a Bag 5. EP,[11] In February 2010, music label Royal Mountain Records along with Arts & Crafts re-released Record in a Bag.[12] the album's lead single "Americanarama" drew press for its music video starring The Kids in the Hall comedian Dave Foley in a parody of American Apparel founder and CEO Dov Charney.[2][13][14] The album has been favourably compared to the music of Supergrass, Stephen Malkmus, and Weezer.[10][14][15] In 2010, Hollerado toured with Free Energy throughout the United States and Canada, as headliner in their home country and as support act in the US. Many of these concerts featured both bands on stage aiding each other in backup vocals on their own songs, and covers of Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young.
In 2011, the band was nominated for the Best New Group Award at the 2011 Juno Awards.
In December 2012, it was announced that Hollerado would be opening for Canadian alternative-rock band Billy Talent on their Dead Silence headline tour in April 2013, alongside Sum41 and Indian Handcrafts.
On February 26, 2013, the band released their second LP, White Paint, leading with the single "Pick Me Up". The album "finds Hollerado sticking to their guns by packing their songs with instantly hummable choruses and six-string riffs aplenty," but although the band didn't opt for any huge sound changes for their sophomore album, White Paint "is a more intricately wrought and emotionally complex record than the feel-good Record in a Bag".[16]
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LocationShakespeare's Lower Level (View)
241 E Kalamazoo Ave
Kalamazoo, MI 49007
United States
Categories
| Minimum Age: 21 |
| Kid Friendly: No |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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