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So, during this stop on the  “Odd Soul Introduction Tour,” – the new album just released earlier in the week -  a near-capacity crowd watched as the band paraded into the joint (literally) and gave a very hands on, interactive performance for nearly two hours.

Drummer Darren King, noted by club owner Chris King as “Possibly the 8th wonder of the world,” began the show by taping his headphones to his head with gaffers tape.  (He is an amazing drummer.)

Vocalist and keyboardist, Paul Meany, did not disappoint either, blending in the tunes their audience knew by heart with new album cuts.

MUTEMATH website.

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Members: Ryan, Israel, Kati, Luke, Ian, Dave

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Se7en Sharp @ Rock In The Rock Showcase

4 bands hit the stage at Revolution Music Room on Thursday, Aug 11th as part of the “Rock in The Rock Showcase.”  “Stereo Down” started out the evening, followed by alt indie sounds from “Underclaire.”  Then, “Se7en Sharp” threw an energetic, almost spastic set at fans of the showcase before headliner “Thread” rocked out the remainder of the evening.

These were the top 4 bands as voted by listeners of the “Rock In The Rock” show, heard Sunday nights on Big Rock 93.3.  Once in the showcase, it again was up to fans of the bands to vote – this time the band who brought the most fans receives the most regular rotation airplay on Big Rock.

(Above, from L to R: THREAD, Stereo Down and Underclaire)

The event was put on by North Little Rock’s Infrared Records and Crain Media’s Big Rock 93.3.

Photos by shutterTHAT! / Tim Vahsholtz.   More shots in the gallery here.

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Grace Potter & The Nocturnals perform for a near capacity crowd at Revolution Music Room, 5.23.11.

Energetic, sexy and fun, Grace put on a show that titillated boys and girls alike.

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Poison't Bret Michaels

It was definitely a good time for fans of the mega-hair-band Poison!  An energetic, and apparently recovered, Bret Michaels entertained a crowd of thousands at Arkansas’ Riverfest 2011.

CC Deville - Poison

Known for their “live and flashy show,” CC Deville, Rikki Rockett and Bobby Dall rounded out the stage with a set list and performance every Poison fan, rabid or casual, would expect.   Factor in that Bret seems to have completely recovered from his illness of the past year or so, and you truly witnessed something great on stage Friday night.

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Matt Shultz of Cage The Elephant surfs the crowd at Rev Room in Little Rock, 4.6.11

Fall of 2009, Cage The Elephant was the opening band for the opening band for Silversun Pickups at Revolution Room in Little Rock.   Now, just 18 months and two Rev appearances later, the boys from Bowling Green, KY are headlining their own three’fer – and are just as humble and personable as ever.  Success has not gone to their heads.

Once the tour bus parked behind Revolution’s restaurant, Matt spent much of the afternoon out on the patio, hanging out and talking with fans.

Sleeper Agent's Alex "Kidd" Kandel

Guitarist Brad Shultz was around the side of the stage early watching Sleeper Agent, the opening band for the opening band for Cage, also from Bowling Green.  Brad commented that Sleeper Agent was one of his new favorite bands.  I’m not sure how many Cage fans noticed Brad in the audience later that first set.  If you arrived to the show after 9pm, you missed a fantastic opener.

With two albums under their belt now, Cage The Elephant brings a hour long set of sing-a-long songs.    Matt dedicated two of the band’s well known hits: “Shake Me Down” to the Little Rock audience and, “Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked” he dedicated to “the douchebag who broke into my house this morning and stole all my crap.”

Matt seems to have refined his  “fish out of water” on stage presence with more dance moves to accompany his frantic head bobbing, in fact, it’s reminiscent of a young Mick Jagger at times.  Matt’s perfected his signature crowd surfing as well, to the point that the third and final time he stood over the audience in a cheerleader “top of the pyramid” pose.   (There should be about two dozen iPhone shots somewhere on the net.

I was told by Cage’s tour manager that the boys will be golfing somewhere in the Natural state on Thursday, taking some time for R&R before another energetic and intimate show Friday night at George’s Majestic in Fayetteville.

more from the show at shutterthat.com/albums/cagetheelephant2011

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Randall Shreve’s latest disc is called “The Entertainer,” and he and his Sideshow did not disappoint.    A small group of rabid fans trekked in from Fayetteville to experience Randall’s burlesque-ish, multi-genre music.

Late in the evening, the group slipped into a blues jam that clearly showcased the group’s raw enthusiasm for music.   An attempt to capture that enthusiasm is in this gallery:

http://shutterthat.com/albums/randallshreve/

(Some amazing pics below of drummer Zach “Sway McStaggers” Reeves… he reminds us of a young Buddy Rich.)

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Your band’s website will be the hub of everything that has to do with your band.

Think how easy it will be at one of your shows to tell everybody to visit yourbandswebsite.com, instead of all the other pages and social networks you are a part of.   This one spot can link to your Facebook, myspace and twitter – in fact it is crucial that your site does this.   In addition, the most detailed information about your band needs to be on your website: your band photos, bios, press releases, and your band’s photos and videos.

Club and venue owners will take you and your band much more seriously if you have a website.    A website demonstrates investment in your band – not just in a monetary sense, but in a marketing and promotion sense.  A venue is going to want to book an act that’s got something “going on.  Musicians today must consistently be building a fan base, and your website will be the portal of that fan base.

Adding a music player of your music, videos of your performances (good ones, not shaky cam and distorted, blown out audio) and good performance photos all build upon your credibility as a band.

There’s tons of musicians out there, and there’s often several opportunities for the music lover to listen to music on any given weekend.   The competition can be brutal.  What is your band going to do to beat out the competition?

If you’re serious about the success of your band, your band needs a website.

Q: What kind of website does your company build?

A: The sites we build are based on WordPress.  This is so band members can update content on a regular basis.  It’s as easy as changing text in Word.  (That way, if your drummer quits or something, you don’t have to find the web designer to change his name out, right?)   These types of sites feature a blog, static pages and the ability to display content from your social media accounts and your show calendar.   More information is on this page: http://shutterthat.com/faq/websites/

Q: Our band is just starting out and we don’t have much money.  Should we just use our myspace page until we can save up?

A: No.  Even if you are a group of “starving musicians,” find the $12 it takes to register a domain name for 1 year, do some internet research on the sites that will let you build something for free and do it!  (Basic hosting accounts, if applicable, are around $5 per month.)  At the bare minimum, you need to have your email address, contact information, promo photo, bio and any songs or videos somewhere where venues can look at your stuff and decide if they are going to book you.   Here’s an example of a site we put together for a band named “Thread.” Once this site was up, venues started taking them a lot more seriously.   The drawback to this site is that it’s not as easy to update.  But, the band’s portal is online and available.  Notice that it links to myspace and facebook.

UPDATED: Thread is in the process of upgrading their site to a wordpress site.  See another new client, Francis Dey, at francisdey.com for an example of a simple site we can build.

TV

Tim Vahsholtz of TVAH ENTERPRISES / shutterTHAT.com shoots music performance photos, and creates media and marketing for bands and musicians.   Band websites are part of that media and marketing.   More information can be found here: http://shutterthat.com/faq/websites/.

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Hells Bells – AC/DC tribute

Originally uploaded by shutterTHAT!

It’s the AC/DC tribute, “Hells Bells,” from Nashville, TN.

They sound like the real deal… Brian Johnson circa 1983, is really David Jaynes. Angus Young is played by Evan Christopher.

Sans the giant “Hell’s Bell” and the cannons usually blasting during “For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)” – the predictable finale of any AC/DC show – the impersonators from Nashville put on a great show, including some retro hits not usually heard these days: “Flick Of The Switch” and “If You Want Blood, You Got It” to name a couple.

The biggest “twist” of this band is the young, spastically-energetic drummer, Zach Ballard, enhancing the classics with his speed metal bass drum licks.

Freezing weather kept many of the closet Angus fans home on this night, so for those who know every word to every song, the opportunity to stand just inches from a great tribute band like this comes not-so-very-often.

L – R: Steve Purcell – Malcolm, David Jaynes – Brian, Zach Ballard – Phil, Evan Christopher – Angus, Allen Denning – Cliff.

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