Dead Flowers Productions: May 2018

Celebrated Summer

Saturday, June 23rd at Hank's Saloon

46 Third Avenue (at Atlantic), Brooklyn, U.S.A.

Doors at 8PM. $8 cover. 21+ with ID.

Steak is founding members Erik Lieblein on rhythm guitar/vocals, Jack Grace on lead guitar/vocals, Stu Damm on drums, and occasionally founding member TJ Thomas on bass with Larry Cook and Daniel Garcia also sharing the bass chair. Their first fans developed from the Boulder, Colorado music scene in 1992 which included bands like The Samples, Big Head Todd and The Monsters Leftover Salmon and many others. The band played a "sarcastic latin/funk with everything including the kitchen sink kinda style" (Colorado Daily) and quickly developed a Colorado/West Coast underground group of followers. The word on their 'silly yet clever in a refreshing manner" (SF Weekly) stage show kept spreading and Steak began traveling California with the magical cult band, The Beat Farmers for a stretch. The road continued with a diverse pedigree of bands that included NRBQ, Uncle Tupelo, Aquarium Rescue Unit, Fishbone, The Funky Meters, Leo Nocentelli and Zigaboo Modeliste, Steak got a tour bus and lived on the road for a few years, relocating to San Francisco and eventually basing themselves from Jack, Erik and Stu's birthplace of New York City. Steak is internationally renowned primarily for it's song, "Big Bear" which is featured in the climax of the Fox Searchlight comedy hit, Super Troopers (along with another Steak track, "Second To The Bottle").

Friday, June 22nd at Hank's Saloon

46 Third Avenue (at Atlantic), Brooklyn, U.S.A.

Doors at 8PM. $10 cover. 21+ with ID.

Serious Entertainment

THE BOSCH

KLEENEX GIRL WONDER • HOT DICE

Greasy twang, driving rhythms, a sense of melody and brevity contribute to a sound that draws on influences from the entirety of rock and roll’s storied history. This is The Bosch, a New York City quartet who sounds something like what might happen “if Brian Wilson, Dick Dale, and Joey Ramone stayed up all night taking speed pills and Ritalin.”

Saturday, June 16th at Hank's Saloon

46 Third Avenue (at Atlantic), Brooklyn, U.S.A.

Doors at 8PM. $10 cover. 21+ with ID.

Never Say No

Modern Needs is a listening and dance party with special guest DJs and monthly musical themes, held every month at Banter bar, located in scenic Brooklyn U.S.A. The June edition features Modern Needs host and boss DJ Mr. Lee (Going In Style Sound System) and Melissa Walker spinning top-flight '60s sounds all night!

Friday, June 15th at Banter

132 Havemeyer, Brooklyn U.S.A.

Kicks off at 10PM... No cover!

I Wanna Be!

PAUL COLLINS (THE BEAT)

THE ELECTRIC MESS • BAMBOO KIDS

Rock icon and cult favorite Paul Collins got his start with Peter Case and Jack Lee in 1974. Their band The Nerves toured with The Ramones and recorded a song called “Hanging On The Telephone.” The song would later become a hit when covered by Deborah Harry and Blondie on the Parallel Lines album.

Paul Collins formed The Beat in 1977, recruiting members of various rock bands including Steven Huff, Larry Whitman, Dennis Conway and Michael Ruiz. The result was The Beat, a high energy rock group in the style of The Ramones, Blondie and The Dictators. As the story goes, Collins was awarded a record deal with CBS thanks to his friend Eddie Money and Bill Graham Management. The Beat played with many bands, including The Jam, Pere Ubu, The Police, Eddie Money, The Plimsouls and Huey Lewis. The Beat became Paul Collins’ Beat when a ska band from UK began using The Beat as their moniker.

Paul Collins’ Beat continued to tour and record albums throughout the ’80s, with The Kids Are The Same, Beat Or Not To Beat, Long Time Gone, Live At Universal and their final album One Night, released in 1989. Paul Collins set out on a solo career, recording the self-titled Paul Collins album in 1992. This country/rock all-star album included special guests such as Greg Kihn, Cyril Jordan (Flamin Groovies), Jeff Trott (Sheryl Crow), Chuck Prophet, Dave Immergluck (Counting Crows) and key members of Chris Isaak’s band. 1993 brought the sophomore release by The Paul Collins Band, entitled From Town To Town. This album was released by Caroline Records and featured a country-rock sound similar to The Byrds.

A new version of the band Paul Collins’ Beat surfaced and resulted in an album of new material entitled Flying High. Considered to be their best to date, Flying High is a solid record, done half acoustic and half electric. The album gets back to the classic sound of The Beat, while combining the raw energy of Collins’ solo works.

Saturday, June 9th at Hank's Saloon

46 Third Avenue (at Atlantic), Brooklyn, U.S.A.

Doors at 8PM. $8 cover. 21+ with ID.

Off The Wagon

CLIFF WESTFALL

GIRLS ON GRASS

New York-based country songwriter Cliff Westfall writes songs about heartache, loss, addiction… you know, funny songs. Or he can turn on a dime and dive headlong into a sentimental weeper. The Kentucky native delivers with a mixture of wit and bravado that, for Westfall, is central to what country music is all about. On his new album, Baby You Win, to be released July 13, 2018, he’s assembled a crew of some of New York’s best musicians to explore a new idea of Americana, drawing inspiration from sources often forgotten by the current country scene.

“I feel like the humor of people like Roger Miller, Don Gibson, and Del Reeves is neglected nowadays,” Westfall says. “A lot of current country music makes you want to ask, ‘Hey, does anybody remember laughter?’ And you know, it’s not really anything against what anyone else is doing, it’s just that the ability to laugh at your troubles seems to have gotten lost.” The songs on Baby You Win are bitingly acerbic, dependent on the twisty puns, bittersweet humor, and turns of phrase that used to define country music. Westfall’s a true son of Kentucky and an honest student of the genre, but refuses to be constrained by its definitions. He cites Chuck Berry as his favorite lyricist, arguing that some of Berry’s songs were much closer to their country cousins than lines of race and genre might have suggested. This is Americana outside the box, made by an artist gleefully rifling through the dusty record bins of American roots music and converting them into something new.

Thursday, June 7th at Hank's Saloon

46 Third Avenue (at Atlantic), Brooklyn, U.S.A.

Doors at 8PM. $8 cover. 21+ with ID.

Spring Fling '98

THE MANIMALS

HANNAH VS THE MANY • NORWOOD • KEY-ZER

Hey seniors (and cool underclassmen): The best night of our entire lives is back again. Join us on June 2nd for a night of booze, '90s tunes, shameless nostalgia, and casual regression.

Saturday, June 2nd at Hank's Saloon