Charlie Steady's new single looks to find beauty in the mundane.
Plus, Elder Devil releases video tease for new album and Numbskull lands a Fresno date for Amyl and the Sniffers.
Seth Craig has been plugging away at a new album for the last year, at least.
In between putting a band together and gigging with the project, Craig, under the moniker Charlie Steady, has been teasing “Magpie” in a series of A/B side singles released along the way.
On Friday, Craig put out the final singles from the album, “Hello Are You Ready?” and “Tragedy and Comedy.”
“This album has grown to be a lot bigger than I originally planned, which throughout the writing and recording process has discouraged and scared me,” Craig wrote on the project’s Facebook page.
“However, I am a strong believer in creating material and art that takes you out of your comfort zone.”
“Hello Are You Ready?” is an art rock/avant-garde piece about “finding beauty in the mundane.” Craig describes it as if “Elton John’s ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ had a baby with a song off of Broadway.”
That about tracks.
“Tragedy and Comedy” takes on a dirtier rock vibe and sees the album’s titular character regret the choices and errors made in the creative journey.
The songs were written last October at Craig’s home studio and at friends’ houses and “reinforce the creative adventure I am emphasizing on this album,” he says.
The singles are out now across platforms. “Magpie” is now slated for release this summer.
Elder Devil releases ‘Endless Need’ video, teases new album
Last week, Elder Devil announced they’d have a new album out in June on Prosthetic Records. It’s the follow up to “The Light Dimmed Eternal.”
Distorted Sound did a better breakdown on it that I could, so I will point you there.
For this sake of this newsletter, I’ll point out the album’s opening track, “Endless Need,” which got a video treatment from Fresno musician/analog video artist Mike Adame (@iloveyoujustforfun on Instagram).
Aside from holding things down at beer bar SpokeEasy, Adame has played in the Fresno scene for going on decades with Fierce Creatures, Light Thieves, Ultra Diamonds and Sun Umbra (and more if you wanted really go back).
Recently, he’s taken to the visual arts, specifically video art (a total rabbit hole to go down if you’re interested), which he’s been known to project onto buildings around town. He’s also created live performance visuals and seems to be transitioning into music videos as well (see: Fats LaBell, Ambronia, Nowandformerly).
You can watch the video below and follow Adame’s work on Instagram.
ICYMI Amyl and the Sniffers have a Fresno date on US tour
File this one under: tours I never thought would come to Fresno. It can go alongside Gwar’s 2019 tour stop.
The Australian pub rockers Amyl and the Sniffers announced a set of US dates earlier this month. The tour kicks off Oct. 12 at the Fox Theater in Oakland and then comes directly to … Fresno.
The band play Oct. 13 at Tioga Sequoia Brewing Company. Tickets are $30 and available now.
Oakland and Fresno are the only California dates on the tour, so one would expect a fair amount of people rolling in from out of town to catch the show.
Amyl and the Sniffers are still fairly underground (though they did do a run of big festival dates last year). Any excitement here is partly based upon the circles in which I travel, meaning I am (and know a lot of people who are also) into Amyl and the Sniffers’ particular brand of over-the-top punkishness.
Still, it’s a good get by Numbskull production and a great show for Tioga Sequoia and a hopeful sign of more come.
That’s it for this week. Remember you can now hear me on the Homegrown Show Sundays at 8 p.m. on New Rock 104.1 FM. If you have anything you think I need to be looking at or listening to, feel free to let me know: jtehee@gmail.com