We won’t pretend to have been huge BILL CHINOOK aficionados, but news of his passing, possibly by suicide, certainly comes as sad news. He was an old-time rocker who loved the music and deserved better. What’s the significance of him dying one day apart from BOSTON frontman BRAD DELP? Somewhere, a middle-aged woman with big hair and a serious jean jacket is really broken up.
KINGPIN WRECKING CREW are preparing their recent local disc, Abolition Strategy, for national release on CHOSEN RECORDS. Four songs will be stricken and “Inside,” “Sights and Sounds,” “You Remain,” “The Deep,” and “Break Through” will be added. From what we heard online, the songs sound more oriented to radio rock and less toward the urban sound that they’ve demonstrated in the past. Still smart and full of keyboards, though. They’ll be road-testing the new material during more than 60 dates between now and September, heading to the West Coast and back.
Heading to SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST this week? Well, for one, you can feel good about yourself, because you’ll be heading to what’s perhaps the world’s first-ever CARBON-NEUTRAL indie showcase. But, second, you might be lonely if you’re looking for other Mainers. Certainly, the guys from booking agency SKYLINE MUSIC will be there, but as far as we know, the only band from Maine scheduled to play are TOUGHCATS, that three-piece contemporary bluegrass outfit who’ll make the trip from North Haven. Sure, it’s possible we missed some Mainers in the list of 500 bands, but we looked pretty close. Should you be in Austin, check Toughcats out March 17 at the Fashion Vault on Guadalupe.
RON HARRITY, formerly of HARPSWELL SOUND and still collaborating with SOUND frontman TREY HUGHES on all manner of potential tunes, has taken up residency in the MAP ROOM (since owner ANNA HEPLER is hanging out in Cyprus, obviously). Basically, he’s been using it as a recording studio, working with BROWN BIRD, DAN BLAKESLEE, and others. With all the nooks and crannies that place has, we can only imagine the cool recording possibilities. There was even talk at one point of a monthly CD/photo release by Harrity’s PEAPOD RECORDINGS called “In the Map Room.” We’re not sure what the status of that is.
LAUREL BRAUNS, a Portsmouth-based singer/songwriter and former talent manager at the Red Door, has a new disc out, Closed for the Season. It’s been recorded and mixed by JON NOLAN in an old carpenter’s shop. It’s Brauns’s third full-length and features ANDY HAPPEL on fiddle, KRISTEN MILLER on cello, MARC MCELROY (of ELROY) on bass and other things, and STEVE RUHM (of GROOVECHILD) on drums. She’ll bring it up here for a listen with a gig at Blue, April 14.
