San Francisco Communion February 2012

Entrance (solo)
http://www.theentranceband.com/web/index.php
The Entrance Band kicks out a veritable explosion of mind-bending, skyscraping high-volume electric power. The trio – which includes singer/guitarist Guy Blakeslee, drummer Derek James and bassist Paz Lenchantin – set out for new musical frontiers with their full-on melding of psychedelic freakout and punk rock intensity. Co-founder of Ecstatic Peace Records, Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore, says, “The Entrance Band’s new music is the most alluring and, yes, entrancing vibe I’ve yet to experience in this new age. A soundtrack for the new groove.”

Tim Cohen (solo)
http://www.timcohen.com/
“Tim Cohen is best known as the lead singer-songwriter of the Fresh & Onlys, and his solo work for Captured Tracks continues in the loose and lo-fi vein of the band he fronts; however, the music on Magic Trick, his followup to 2010′s Laughing Tracks, shies away from the garage leanings of the Fresh & Onlys in favor of a backyard jam session-vibe. Here, he alternates between eeriness (some songs are pure campfire spook-story ) and heartfelt intimacy. ”
–Prefix Mag

Hot Lunch
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hot-Lunch/116240715101900?sk=info
Hot Lunch is a high-fiveingly awesome punk ‘n’ roll quartet comprising members of Parchman Farm, Men’s Club, Fells, Cheetah Speed and Harold Ray Live In Concert. They are hell-bent on updating heavy old-school rock, but they’ve been known to dabble in reinventing early ’80s skate punk and proggy, mind-melting jams fueled by medieval maidens, trident-chucking centaurs and intergalactic revenge fantasies.
If the members of Hot Lunch were to roll up some Dungeons & Dragons characters, they would be an evil Drow Wizard, a battle-axe wielding thief, an Elvin warrior and a spell-casting executioner with totally radical moat digging skills. No member of this band is vegan or vegetarian and one time the singer ate a hot dog that was cooked onto a slice of pepperoni pizza.

Matt Baldwin
One of the more unexpected – if worthwhile – byproducts of the 21st-century underground American folk revival is a renewed interest in solo acoustic guitar music. Spare, haunting, pastoral sounds have a struck a new chord, and the words John Fahey and Takoma are hip again. Just check the mighty Tompkins Square and Strange Attractors labels for the proof in the pudding.
Matt Baldwin, raised in California’s rustic Pacific Grove, educated in the alternative Mecca of Berkeley, sits in the center of this quiet, swirling scene. He is the visionary wildcard of today’s solo guitar music, the ambitious fever dreamer, the serpent in the grass. Towering tall with long blonde locks, he conjures from his axe dark and mystical realms. He calls his music “New Age,” and he may not be joking.
Featured on Tompkins Square’s 2006 Berkeley Guitar LP, Baldwin now steps into his own with his debut solo release. Unlike many of his peers, he looks beyond the traditions of Fahey (whom he calls “a teacher,” not a god). He brings portentous and progressive elements into his music, alongside a dreamy country lilt. He covers Krautrock legends Neu! (”Weissensee”) and metal Vikings Judas Priest (“Winter”), and culls inspiration from prog heroes Yes on closing epic “Rainbow.” His music comes on like a creeping moss, verdant but threatening, comforting yet unsettling. It will work its way inside you.

Ready Steady
https://www.facebook.com/readysteadyband
Ready Steady began when Paul and Amber moved to California from Kentucky, via Arizona. They both dreamed of living in California from a young age, and once in the golden state, the two of them married and commenced to writing songs based at first on a shooting star over Mt Tamalpais. While Paul Oldham comes up with the guitar riffs, Amber Oldham (née Savarro), an actress and a writer, co-writes the songs with Paul, adding melodies and lyrics. Since then new friendships were forged as well as old friends found to form what has become Ready Steady. Featuring Bob Thayer, leader of San Francisco band Rad Cloud, on bass guitar and backing vocals; Chris Matthews, fellow relocated Louisvillian, on rhythm guitar and keys; and Mark Ostiapak, of the band Teeeth, on the drums to round things out. Ready Steady’s sound is inspired by the punk and new wave of the late seventies to early eighties but also pulls from Paul’s six year tenure with Royal Trux as sound engineer and sometime bass player, as well as his many years refining his hollering skills singing back up with his brother, Bonny Prince Billy. Additionally Paul played bass and electric guitar in Louisville band Speed to Roam with long time collaborator George Wethington, of Louisville, who occasionally contributes lyrics to Ready Steady.

Doors @ 7:30PM – Show @ 8:30PM
Tickets: $10 adv/$12 door
Age: 21+
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