I've been on heavy concert duty (Coachella, The Zombies, Kiefer Sutherland, etc.) and before I immerse myself prepping for the upcoming Doheny Blues Festival, I wanted to catch up and post some notable items here of interest...I am super excited to hear one of my favorite artists of all time, dada, is set to release new music too!
Rock Band dada Readies First New Single in Over a Decade
dadaforever U.S. Tour is Set, as Band Celebrates 25th Anniversary
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| dada, from left, Joie Calio, Phil Leavitt and Michael Gurley. |
Rock band dada has recorded its first new single in over a decade. The track, entitled ‘The Bluebird’, will be released this summer, and coincides with a summer/fall ‘dadaforever’ U.S. tour celebrating the band’s 25th Anniversary.
In the years since their debut album ‘Puzzle’ and its smash single ‘Dizz Knee Land,’ dada -- singer-guitarist Michael Gurley, singer-bassist Joie Calio and drummer Phil Leavitt -- has established itself as a live act to be reckoned with…a trio known for its extraordinary musicianship, ear for atmospheric songwriting, melodic hooks and tight harmonies (delivered via Gurley and Calio’s overlapping vocals). At times described as pop, alternative, progressive or experimental, dada is at its core a kick-ass three-piece rock band, ready to play anywhere, anytime, and to deliver epic shows for its fans.
The trio’s bond with their audience is forged by mutual respect and in an elemental sense of connectedness. Leavitt commented, “We called the tour dadaforever because we wanted our fans to know we still believe and will always be there.”
dada’s new single was recorded during April 2017 at The Waystation in Los Angeles, and was engineered and co-produced by multiple Grammy Award-winner David Way (Pink, Paul McCartney, Foo Fighters, more). A collector’s edition vinyl 45 pressing will be available, in limited edition and signed by the band, with details to be announced soon.
dadaforever Tour Dates:
Jul 11 Viper Room West Hollywood, CA
Jul 12 Slim's San Francisco, CA
Jul 13 Harlow's Sacramento, CA
Jul 15 Dante's Portland, OR
Jul 16 The Triple Door Seattle, WA
Jul 18 Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Lake Tahoe Stateline, NV
Sept 2 Globe Hall Denver, CO
Sept 5 Schubas Chicago, IL
Sept 6 Southgate House Revival Newport, KY
Sept 7 Diesel Pittsburgh, PA
Sept 9 Café Nine New Haven, CT
Sept 10 Once Ballroom Somerville, MA
Sept 12 The Met Pawtucket, RI
Sept 13 Mercury Lounge New York City
Sept 14 The Wonder Bar Asbury Park, NJ
Sept 15 World Café Live Philadelphia, PA
Sept 16 Rams Head Live Baltimore, MD
Sept 17 State Theatre Falls Church, VA
Sept 19 The Norva Norfolk, VA
Sept 20 Pour House Music Hall Raleigh, NC
Sept 21 Smith’s Olde Bar Atlanta, GA
Sept 23 House of Blues Parish Room New Orleans, LA
Sept 24 White Oak Music Hall Upstairs Houston, TX
Sept 26 Rockhouse Live Memphis Memphis, TN
Sept 27 High Watt Nashville, TN
Oct 1 Rogue Bar Scottsdale, AZ
Stay up-to-date as more dada concerts are added: http://dadaforever.com/
More about dada: Since the release of dada’s groundbreaking 1992 debut Puzzle, the trio has created an array of songs boasting progressive rock musicianship, dazzling vocal harmonies and melodic power pop layered with inspired psychedelic and experimental rock impulses. Adding to the trio’s groundbreaking line of attack are the marathon-length shows that deliver on the promise that every performance is the only one of its kind.
Two decades after the Los Angeles outfit embarked on its singular journey, singer-guitarist Michael Gurley, singer-bassist Joie Calio and drummer Phil Leavitt are celebrating dada’s 25th anniversary.
“dada is about digging into our roots, examining and celebrating it,” says Calio.
Puzzle was released on September 8, 1992, and it didn’t take long for the band’s sonic imprint to find an audience. The album’s first single “Dizz Knee Land” found widespread airplay on alternative and mainstream rock outlets cracking the Top 5 on the Modern Rock Single’s chart and pushing the album’s sales to over 1,000,000 worldwide. The band was soon touring around the globe, opening for the celebrated likes of Crowded House, Depeche Mode and Sting.
“People always ask, ‘Do you still talk to each other after all these years?’ So that’s really why I wanted to commemorate it because no matter the size of the career if you can stick together and still have a desire to play music together you have accomplished something” explains Leavitt.
Dada was founded when Gurley and Calio began writing songs and performing as an acoustic duo in the late ‘80s. But from the beginning, their approach was unique amidst the onslaught of ‘90s bands featuring lead singers and mostly generic backing bands.
“Joie and I were both lead singers. But we really found quickly that harmonies were going to be a big strength for us,” recalled Gurley, noting both he and Calio are fans of Simon & Garfunkel’s pioneering harmonies.
Gurley noted that once they recruited Leavitt, they were able to blend the thunderous power of trios such as Cream with the artful harmony-minded songcraft of Simon & Garfunkel.
The success of Puzzle was followed in 1994 by American Highway Flower, featuring the ambitious “Ask the Dust” and astounding “Feet to the Sun,” dada has gone on to create a magnificent discography featuring a half-dozen full-length albums and an EP. The trio has also issued a number of solo efforts and offshoot projects along the way exploring a range of styles including folk, blues, jazz and rock. Gurley and Leavitt were both members of Butterfly Jones while dada was on hiatus in the early ‘00s; Calio has released several solo discs and with X Levitation Cult. Mike Gurley and the Nightcaps are a popular jazz group in Southern California.
Additionally, Leavitt has stepped out from behind the drum set as lead singer and Calio is playing guitar in 7Horse, a psychedelic blues project that has released 3 albums to date. Bringing a stripped-down approach, 7Horse cuts to the bone and identifies core feelings and phrases in their music. Their latest effort Livin’ In A Bitch of A World was released earlier this year. Their debut album Let The 7Horse Run spawned the hit song Meth Lab Zoso Sticker, which was chosen by Martin Scorsese for his film The Wolf of Wall Street. Since then, it’s had over 1.2 million views, 5.5 million streams and over 100,000 downloads.
Long-time and new fans of dada all have one thing in common; they are passionate about the band and have a deep connection with its three members.
THE GRAMMY MUSEUM® PRESENTS
Marty Stuart's Way Out West:
A Country Music Odyssey
Opening Thursday, May 25
Featuring Artifacts from Johnny Cash, Buck Owens and More, from the Private Collection of Marty Stuart, New Exhibit Explores the West Coast Influence on Country Music
Marty Stuart Returns To the Museum May 25 For Intimate Opening Event
LOS ANGELES (May 4, 2017) — The GRAMMY Museum® at L.A. LIVE will explore the history of country music from the unique West Coast perspective featuring artifacts from the many iconic artists who spent their time there, including Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, and Buck Owens. The exhibit, inspired by the title of GRAMMY winner Marty Stuart's recent release Way Out West, is co-curated by GRAMMY Museum Executive Director Scott Goldman and Curator Nwaka Onwusa. All artifacts come from the private collection of Stuart, who also serves as guest curator.
"The West Coast, and California in particular, had a huge impact on country music and artists like Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard," said Goldman. "Through Marty Stuart's impressive collection of one-of-a-kind artifacts, we have the opportunity to teach Museum visitors about the vast history of country music through the unique West Coast/California perspective. For many West Coast natives who visit the exhibit, they'll learn how their Golden State inspired some of our favorite country music and artists of yesterday and today."
"I consider everything associated with the GRAMMY Awards® or the extended Recording Academy® family to be par excellence," said Stuart. "The GRAMMY Museum in particular is special to me. Their exhibits represent the best of the best from all musical walks of life. It is indeed an honor for Marty Stuart's Way Out West: A Country Music Odyssey to be the first exhibit shown at the GRAMMY Museum pertaining to the culture of country music. I hope people walk away from the experience enlightened and entertained with a whole new appreciation for the genre and the people who've created it."
On display in the Museum's Special Exhibits Gallery on the second floor through September 2017, the exhibit will feature artifacts such as:
- Items from Marty Stuart's childhood, including his beloved mandolin
- Handwritten lyrics to Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" and "Man in Black"
- Cash's Gibson J-200 guitar
- Buck Owens' "Pledge to Country Music"
- Unique wardrobe items from America's "most colorful hillbilly band" Maddox Brothers and Rose
- Instruments and wardrobe items from Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives
- Photographs captured by Stuart
- Handwritten lyrics and two incredible guitars from Merle Haggard
- Rare performances, interviews, and much more!
In conjunction with the opening of the exhibit, Stuart will return to the Museum's Clive Davis Theater for an intimate conversation hosted by Goldman on Thursday, May 25 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at AXS.com beginning Thursday, May 4 at 10:30 a.m.
About The GRAMMY MuseumEstablished in 2008 as a partnership between the Recording Academy and AEG, the GRAMMY Museum is a non-profit organization dedicated to cultivating a greater understanding of the history and significance of music. Paying tribute to our collective musical heritage, the Museum explores and celebrates all aspects of the art form—from the technology of the recording process to the legends who've made lasting marks on our cultural identity. In 2017, the Museum integrated with its sister organization, the GRAMMY Foundation, to broaden the reach of its music education and preservation initiatives. As a unified organization, today, the GRAMMY Museum fulfills its mission of making music a valued and indelible part of our society through exhibits, education, grants and public programming.
Cindy Lee Berryhill Hits the Road for Summer Tour - New Album The Adventurist Out Now on Omnivore Records
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Cindy Lee Berryhill marks an affecting, intimate, and dazzling return to record-making with The Adventurist, an ambitious song cycle set for release by Omnivore Recordings. To celebrate The Adventurist, Berryhill is embarking on a summer tour throughout the U.S, first w/ David Lindley followed by dates with 1000 Maniacs and before embarking on Roots on the Rails w/Dave Alvin, Jon Langford and others.
Written and recorded over the course of the last five years and funded in part by a Kickstarter campaign, The Adventurist was co-produced by Berryhill with David Schwartz, Sheldon Gomberg, Ben Moore, and Lee Ray. Contributing musicians include singer-songwriter Syd Straw, Probyn Gregory and Nelson Bragg of Brian Wilson’s band, DJ Bonebrake of X, and David J Carpenter of Dead Rock West.
While it eschews biographical detail or a confessional tone, the album was inspired by Berryhill’s life with her late husband Paul Williams. Founder of the first modern American rock magazine Crawdaddy in 1966 and a prolific writer and critic, Williams married Berryhill in 1997. Two years earlier, Williams suffered a traumatic brain injury in a bicycling accident. Following the early onset of dementia in 2004 and deepening medical challenges, he was placed in full-time care in 2009; he died in March 2013.
Berryhill says, “I vowed to write Paul a song cycle. Not songs of sadness or the despair I’d felt, but songs that reflected the love I had for him, and a remembering back to the enormous flood of feelings we’d had on meeting and courting. I wanted to write songs that felt like they’d come from that muse-driven place we feel when we fall in love.
Berryhill began writing the songs that were later recorded for The Adventurist in 2011. From the first sessions for the record with David Schwartz in the summer of 2013, Berryhill harkened back to the sound of her widely admired 1994 release Garage Orchestra, which found the onetime “anti-folk” performer delving into a denser, more orchestrated style. Two players from that record, cellist Renata Bratt and percussionist Randy Hoffman, returned for the new collection.
“In some ways you could say that Garage Orchestra, with its orchestral experiments and themes, is directly related to the new album,” she says. “I would offer that they are bookends — Garage Orchestra signifying the beginning of my time with Paul, and The Adventurist being the end of that time.”
Further recording dates followed with Schwartz in Santa Monica, Moore in San Diego, and Gomberg in Los Angeles’ Silver Lake district. The sessions all drew a degree of inspiration from the unusual instrumentation and arrangements and the live-in-the-studio approach heard on Brian Wilson’s groundbreaking ’60s productions for Pet Sounds and the abortive Smile.
“I guess I want things to be more immediate,” Berryhill says. “I really get that old idea, that way of doing it. Something I learned from Brian is that you can have a lot of instruments, but you don’t have to go big. Phil Spector went big with the Wall of Sound. But you can still be intimate and have 14 instruments going.”
Berryhill views her highly personal new release as a response to the challenges life handed her. “My family would say, ‘When the going gets rough, play music.’ I dove really far and really deep into the playing of music, and let the music carry me away. It was my happy place to go to while I went through my daily chores of caring for my husband and my son. It brought me a lot of joy. And it’s an escape — music is the place I go to. It’s the Enchanted Forest.”
Cindy Lee Berryhill Summer 2017 Tour Dates
5/28 Sweetwater Music Hall Mill Valley, CA (w/ David Lindley)
5/29 Yoshi's Jazz Club Oakland, CA (w/ D Lindley)
6/4 Aladdin Theater Portland, OR (w/ D Lindley)
6/5 The Triple Door Seattle, WA (w/ D Lindley)
6/6 The Triple Door Seattle, WA (w/ D Lindley)
6/7 Chateau Rive at Flour Mill Spokane, WA (w/ D Lindley)
6/24 New Britain, CT (invitational concert)
6/25 O Street Museum Washington, D.C. (w/ Bill Kelly)
7/28 The Triple Door Seattle, WA (w/ 10,000 Maniacs)
7/29 Doug Fir Lounge Portland, OR (w/ 10,000 Maniacs)
7/30 Rogue Theatre Grants Pass, OR (w/ 10,000 Maniacs)
8/1 Crest Theater Sacramento, CA (w/ 10,000 Maniacs)
8/2 Rio Theatre Santa Cruz, CA (w/ 10,000 Maniacs)
8/3 Yoshi's Jazz Club Oakland, CA (w/ 10,000 Maniacs)
8/18-24 Roots on The Rails in St. Louis, Kansas City & Albuquerque
(w Dave Alvin, Jon Langford, Jo Harvey Allen, Rick Shea, Christy McWilson)
