Joe chatted with the band at the merch table after the show (I ran into a guy from high school I haven’t seen since ’89 so was reliving some of my own 80’s punk memories with him) – SFH play out quite a bit but mostly basement shows, to which we are apparently invited but I’m pretty sure we’ve aged out of that scene, as fun as it probably would be.

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MLB played several of my top picks from Disco Two Step, the band’s 2nd full-length album, including “Animal,” the anthemic “Radio” and the strummy “The Man,” I’m not sure if they played “Square Jaw Pt. 1 & II” but it’s a really great track, a bit epic with lots of rhythm and melodic changes and while I’m not really a fan of the  “stomp and holler” genre, the track “Disco is Dead” is pretty great.

I have no proof but I’m guessing MLB plays their best shows in the Fox Valley – I truly hope they continue to show up at Mile and I know as long as they stick together that they will continue to perform in Wisconsin, particularly in the Appleton area. Their fans are wildly loyal and will show up for the Bees.

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Amber’s voice is clear and unembellished, which is perfect for the dense rocking she accompanies on guitar, and with the heavy heavy rhythm of Mac on bass and Gage on drums. Since this is the first of their releases I’ve purchased, I wasn’t overly familiar with most of the songs they played, with the exception of the first two songs, both of which appear on In the Mourning. My favorite is the hook-filled and highly addictive crashing ass-shaker “Love Me Forever” which I’ve woken up to playing in my head for a couple of days now, not even kidding. The other song is one they’ve also released as a single, “Sunshine Veins,” which is lovely and clever with a Pixies loud-quiet-loud formula. I am very much looking forward to seeing Lunar Moth play again soon.

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Skin Walker takes Brother O’Brother’s already monstrous sound to the next level. Thundering guitars and drums are HEAVY and passionate lyrics meld into a wall of head-banging fury. My favorite track is the ass-shaking, boot-stomping “Who Wants It, Who Gets It.” Also amazing is the psychedelic speed-metal “Elixir,” the single “Cyborg,” originally released in 2020 as part of a split 7″ with The Pack A.D., and the title track “Skin Walker” which they performed at the Mile of Music set at Chadwicks on Friday August 5th. The digital version of Skin Walker is set to drop this upcoming weekend so audio and video links will be more readily available after that. And for those unfortunate souls who haven’t made it to a BoB show lately to get the LP directly from the source, more vinyl will be available to pre-order from the band’s website in about a week.

And because Chris (guitar/vocals) and Warner (drums) are really great, sweet guys and know our kid really well, they recorded a video message for him after the show since he wasn’t able to be there with us. (Note: we did not leave him home with just ravioli to eat, but there was ramen)

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I’ve had Pronounced Jah-See on repeat since we picked it up at the show on Friday afternoon and I love every single track. The opener “Burn It Down” is an all-out glam rocker, followed by the blues stomper “Tongue Tied“: think Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney dressed in sparkles and heels. “Androgyne” is, I’m guessing, autobiographical and so damn catchy, bendy blues guitar celebrating individuality. “Black Strap” goes big and heavy; “All Messed Up,” the strutting “Fast Love” and “Walk On” go straight-up early 70’s T. Rex/Ziggy era Bowie with shredding guitar. “Little Tramp” feels earlier T. Rex, more psychedelic English folk (there’s flute!). “Feed Your Face” would be comfy hanging out on pretty much any Ty Segall album and “She Don’t Care” on a Jack White LP. (I should reiterate here how much I love Ty Segall and Jack White.) “Kiss Kiss” is so fun, like Zeppelin and New York Dolls had the most fabulous baby ever. “Swordfight” does not appear on the vinyl release but is on the digital version: not only is it a heavy-duty head-banging rocker but it also makes me laugh — there absolutely was air-sword during their performance and it was glorious. The opening lyrics of the closer “Godhead” sum up Gyasi nicely: “Well me and all my friends, we sparkle and we preen, outcasts writing fables…” I cannot wait for Gyasi to swing back through our area; I am utterly smitten with the music, the look, the performance – they are the full package and without irony: just pure straight-up genuine love for glamorous and heavy rock and roll. Including several videos here as they are all too good to miss.

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All The King’s Horses is Lung’s second release. (I believe we picked up their brand new album at the show but we’re still decompressing from the weekend.) They played several of my favorite tracks from the LP including “Brock,” “Butcher” and “Bodies of Water,”  I’m not sure if they played “The Overgrowth” and “Horsebath” but those tracks are killer as well. They definitely did not play the sole cover on the record, David Bowie’s “I’m Afraid of Americans,” because Mile of Music has a no-cover-songs policy; only original music is allowed. I think Lung will be back in the area in a couple of months and we cannot wait to see them again.

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Bone Crown is a concept album that tells the story of “The Rise and Fall of the Great Fox King,” and a download of the story’s narration is available from their website. It’s a dark fairy tale – all of the good ones are – with the tracks melding perfectly to one another, cohesive without being repetitive or boring. My favorite tracks after this first listen are “Fox Hole,” “Fisticuffs,” “Everybody Knows,” “The Great Beyond,” and the title track “Bone Crown,”  Because Coyote Kid was new to me, I’m not sure of how many of these songs they played at their Mile of Music set but I’m looking forward to seeing them again after getting more familiar with their music – they put on quite a show.

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Sometimes bad weather puts a literal damper on things but in this case, it created a sense of gleeful solidarity among the audience members who stayed for the show once the festival crew swept away the standing water from the stage and removed all of the hastily thrown down tarps. Scales was great, the Mutts guys providing a solid backing for his “dive bar soul.” Then Mutts hit the stage, raucous, energetic, loud and so much fun! They describe their sound as “grounge” which I’m guessing is lounge-grunge mashup and is fairly accurate; as is the quote from their bio that they sound “like Tom Waits fronting a garage band,” mainly due to singer/keyboardist Mike Maimone’s gravelly vocals and vibe.

Rounding out Mutts’ lineup is guitarist/bassist Bob Buckstaff and drummer Ian Tsan. Tsan is a relatively recent addition to the band, on the LP Separation Anxiety drums are played by Chris Pagnani.

Mutts are from Chicago and have been around for almost exactly 10 years, touring relentlessly these past several months for that anniversary. Weirdly this is only the second time I’ve seen them: the first was a year ago in Indianapolis for the inaugural Romanus Records Festival (which we will be heading to again this upcoming weekend and I think Mutts are on the bill) so I can’t really be certain if their sound has shifted or not. But their live show at MoM was a lot more energetic than their 2012 release so I really need to get on checking out their newer recorded material. I do like Separation Anxiety especially the more upbeat tracks like “Half Mile,” the funky “Apathetic Stars,” and the heavy “Tire Swing Blues” – that one really earns the term “grounge.”

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A self-decrbied “swamp yankee,” Lorenz’s sound is at once traditional (mixing Americana, folk, blues and honky tonk) and utterly modern-experimental and unique. Lorenz managed to pack an entire stage’s worth of sound into a small piece of stage real estate and sprinkled warm, amusing anecdotes and jokes throughout the performance, including introducing his band: “the left heel plays…etc.” Because his show at Mile of Music was my first exposure to The Suitcase Junket (and we picked up this LP at the end of the concert), I’m not entirely certain of what tracks he played from the album, but I know he played “What Was I Gonna Say?” as he got the entire audience to sing a call-and-response during the chorus (here is a great video from a past performance that also is a great example of his onstage charm and humor). I think he also played “The Next Act,” the lead track from Pile Driver as well as “Beta Star” and “Swamp Chicken.” According to his website, The Suitcase Junket has combined streams of 1.25 million on Spotify and was named to Spotify’s Best of 2016 Folk & Americana and Blues & Roots Rock playlists. Lorenz caught the attention of National Public Radio who chose his video session for “Earth Apple” from his 2015 album Make Time as one of the year’s favorite sessions.

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