PUREHONEY 80

CHEW in 3d at voltaire Psychedelic versatility. Lysergic elasticity. Of all the music genres; psych rock has an edge over jazz and jam that invites an even greater array of experimentation — there’s virtually no roof to it. Looking back on classic outfits like Hawkwind and the Pink Fairies, pioneering invitees of disparate muses and influences, it’s easy to see how psych has been a tabula rasa of sorts all along.

There are very few bands CHEW today exploring the vast galaxy of psych the way Atlanta’s CHEW is. “I think that psych has been coming back to many people’s taste slowly over the years,” bassist Brandon Pittman tells PureHoney. “It’s a very expressive and quite expansive genre that is full of room for exploration. We had been dabbling with the genre before we started, but since then have really honed into our own niche style of the genre.” So far, the band has driven into areas of ambience, progressive, electronica, funk and even hip-hop.

The trio, rounded out in rhythm by drummer Sarah Wilson and guitarist/ electronics manipulator Brett Reagan, has been etching its stamp on the genre with acidic precision. In three-ish years they have released a short but fully-realized cassette, “3D EP,” and a debut full-length, “A Fine Accoutrement,” which dropped last Fall. The maturing between is evident and exciting; taking the initial pop elements into complex areas that Wilson describes as “moodier, brooding, edgier.”

“I really wanted to explore more electronic sounds with this project,” says Reagan. “A lot of bands I had previously been in had an angry feel to them. I wanted to approach music much differently with CHEW.” As an experience, CHEW is great on record and phenomenal live; the trio has become oiled in intuitiveness and trust, which means every night, something different can happen.

“When we started,” says Wilson, “we wanted to blend our love of psychedelic and prog and make it our own.” It’s safe to say they have, and will continue to push their parameters in what could be a limitless quest. Don’t sleep on CHEW, for they’re already light years ahead of where you stand.

CHEW closes Salon after Kath Bloom, Ella Herrera, on April 13 at Voltaire in West Palm Beach. sub-culture.org ~ Abel Folgar

Kath bloom Not everyone can pick up an instrument and master it, but anyone can hum a tune and create, in their own way, a form of art. These private moments, fleeting and intangible, happen constantly, and folk music and the blues are the closest they come to being caught and preserved. That’s the reason why, more than other genres, they have the power to capture an audience’s heart.

KATH BLOOM A collaborator decades ago with the experimental guitarist Loren MazzaCane Connors, and the daughter of Robert Bloom, a celebrated classical musician, Kath Bloom has long been the gentle soul who dug deeper than anyone before or since, and mined some of the most heartfelt and beautiful roots music.

“I did not pick up a guitar ’til I was 25, I think,” Bloom tells PureHoney. “It was the playing of it that began unlocking my pain, and wonder, and my need to make something simple out of emotional chaos. Once I got going, I was hooked.”

Bloom’s work, lyrically stream of consciousness, relies on her instinctual sense of feeling. She’s been a massage therapist, a horse trainer and a children’s musician — different careers that have helped infuse her music with empathy.

As a mother, it only makes sense that she possesses the administrative capabilities to wrangle it all into cohesion. “Besides this being a rich time of women speaking out against being victims of male force and sexual aggression, it’s a time to celebrate the true power of intuition and feeling and nurturing in our lives,” she says. “It is a part of creation.”

Her career, marked by periods of inactivity which helped distance her from the music scene, got a boost after Richard Linklater discovered her music and included “Come Here” in 1995’s “Before Sunrise,” for a new generation of fans.

After a 2009 residency at London’s Café OTO, Bloom’s life changed drastically.

Renewed interest fueled her previously lukewarm relationship with live performance, and she now revels in pleasing crowds. “Not only did I discover that people knew my music, but many liked it,” Bloom says. “I love it now. I want to play more and more.”

Kath Bloom, with Ella Herrera for Salon followed by CHEW, performs April 13 at Voltaire in West Palm. sub-culture.org ~ Abel Folgar

THURSDAY, MARCH 29

The Nude Party

VOLTAIRE: , Glove, Mo’Booty, DirtBike RESPECTABLE STREET: Broot McCoy

FRIDAY, MARCH 30

VOLTAIRE: Thelma & the Sleaze, Craig Brown Band, Fat Sun, Glass Body

VOLTAIRE: Cabaret Voltaire Deep House

KILL YOUR IDOL: Immersed Music FLOYD MIAMI: Khidja FUNKY BUDDHA: GuavaBear, Flint Blade, Leemuh BREWHOUSE GALLERY: RoXout, Plant Nite KELSEY THEATER: Rocky Horror Picture Show STACHE: Retro Wave

DADA: Static Momentum STACHE: JL Fulks DADA: Static Momentum HULLABALOO: Markis Hernandez Trio KILL YOUR IDOL: Shameless Burlesque

RESPECTABLE STREET: Mass

SATURDAY, MARCH 31

VOLTAIRE: Cabaret Voltaire Deep House CWS: Spred the Dub DADA: Steve Pomeranz Band KILL YOUR IDOL: The Wire KELSEY THEATER: Udo Dirkshneider

SUNDAY, APRIL 1

SUNDAY, APRIL 8

O’MALLEY’S: Eyehategod, Cro-Mags, Shroud Eater, Ether CWS: Victoria Cardona KILL YOUR IDOL: Game Show Sundays

O’MALLEY’S: Widowmaker KILL YOUR IDOL: Game Show Sundays BREWHOUSE GALLERY: A Sunday Kind of Blues CWS: Tasty Vibrations

VOLTAIRE: Ray’s Downtown presents TCHAA!

MONDAY, APRIL 2

VOLTAIRE: Ray’s Downtown presents Juke Joint Swingers

REVOLUTION LIVE: Cradle of Filth DADA: Open Mic KILL YOUR IDOL: Drag Mondays

MONDAY, APRIL 9

TUESDAY, APRIL 3

TUESDAY, APRIL 10

DADA: Poetry Open Mic KILL YOUR IDOL: Open Mic

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4

DADA: Rewind Wednesday

THURSDAY, APRIL 5

VOLTAIRE: Church of DUB

DADA: Open Mic KILL YOUR IDOL: Drag Mondays O’MALLEY’S: Eyes Set To Kill DADA: Comedy Open Mic KILL YOUR IDOL: Open Mic BREWHOUSE GALLERY: Photography Critique & Geek

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11

RESPECTABLE STREET: DJ Battle

CWS: Peryphon

DADA: Rewind Wednesday KILL YOUR IDOL: Fat Sun

DADA: The Holidazed KILL YOUR IDOL: Karaoke with Shelley Novak

THURSDAY, APRIL 12

FUNKY BUDDHA: Coral Canyons, DJ Nic

WPB WATERFRONT: Chillakaya

WPB WATERFRONT: Maggie Baugh RESPECTABLE STREET: Poparazzi

FRIDAY, APRIL 6

VOLTAIRE: The Zoo Peculiar, The Wombombs, The Grumps, Jersey Glamburger CWS: Marijah and the Reggae All-Stars STACHE: Bobby Lee Rodgers O’MALLEY’S: Zao, Wvrm, Implosive Disgorgence REVOLUTION LIVE: Keller Williams DADA: Jonathan Auerbach Trio HULLABALOO: Jordan Pettingil FUNKY BUDDHA: Del Pelson, Toledo BREWHOUSE GALLERY: Acoustic Soul

SATURDAY, APRIL 7

Afro Roots World Music Fest: Sun Ra Arkestra,

NORTH BEACH BANDSHELL: Morikeba Kouyate

CWS: Bobby Lee Rodgers

RESPECTABLE STREET: Bowie Ball DADA: AnastasiaMax

VOLTAIRE: Deb Silver Jazz “Lovin’ Frank”

VOLTAIRE: Cosmic Barley pres Double James, Bear Witness CWS: Nick from the Holidazed

DADA: Holy Dances KILL YOUR IDOL: Karaoke with Shelley Novak

RESPECTABLE STREET: Prison Warder FUNKY BUDDHA: Preservation Road

FRIDAY, APRIL 13

Kath Bloom, CHEW,

VOLTAIRE: Ella Herrera

Harry Romero, Michael Mayo, Val Verra CWS: Future Prezidents STACHE: Spred the Dub

Descendents Grendel, Ghostfeeder,

REVOLUTION LIVE: RESPECTABLE STREET: Peter Turns Pirate, Paul Klov

DADA: Drawing Bored, Idiots on the Moon

FILLMORE MIAMI: The Revivalists

HULLABALOO: Fat Sun KILL YOUR IDOL: Shore Things FUNKY BUDDHA: The Aquaducks, Spred the Dub

BREWHOUSE GALLERY: Blues Crusaders

KELSEY THEATER: Putnam County Spelling Bee

SATURDAY, APRIL 14

SATURDAY, APRIL 21

CWS: Poor Life Decisions

RESPECTABLE STREET: Echos Reunion Party

REVOLUTION LIVE:

OMD

VOLTAIRE: Cabaret Voltaire Deep House

DADA: Marker Darker KILL YOUR IDOL: Keep It Deep FUNKY BUDDHA: Humble Waters, Citizen Badger BREWHOUSE GALLERY: Mona Lisa Tribe

SUNDAY, APRIL 15

VOLTAIRE: Ray’s Downtown presents Joel DaSilva CWS: Mike Mineo KILL YOUR IDOL: Game Show Sundays

CWS: Mike Mineo

DADA: The State Of

VOLTAIRE: Cabaret Voltaire Deep House

KILL YOUR IDOL: Breaks Yo! HARD ROCK: John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous FUNKY BUDDHA: Buddha Comedy Fest with Lindsey Glazer KELSEY THEATER: Putnam County Spelling Bee STACHE: Boys, Boys, Boys! Burlesque Revue BREWHOUSE GALLERY: B-Side, Sprockets & Spokes Custom Bicycle Show

MEYER AMP: U2 by UV (Tribute to U2)

SUNDAY, APRIL 22

MONDAY, APRIL 16

CWS: Marcus Amaya O’MALLEY’S: Bobby Amaru of Saliva KILL YOUR IDOL: Game Show Sundays KELSEY THEATER: Putnam County Spelling Bee

REVOLUTION LIVE: Jake Miller FUNKY BUDDHA: Dungeons & Drafts BREWHOUSE GALLERY: Nip & Tuck KELSEY THEATER: Glen Phillips of Toad the Wet Sprocket DADA: Open Mic KILL YOUR IDOL: Drag Mondays

TUESDAY, APRIL 17

REVOLUTION LIVE:

Black Lips

The Black Angels,

DADA: Comedy Open Mic KILL YOUR IDOL: Open Mic

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18

KILL YOUR IDOL: Cloud Solo

THURSDAY, APRIL 19

VOLTAIRE: The Funktion hosted by Public Sounds WPB WATERFRONT: Riverdown DADA: Xotic Yeyo KILL YOUR IDOL: Karaoke with Shelley Novak

RESPECTABLE STREET: Toridian FUNKY BUDDHA: Tenor Blue, Exit 27

VOLTAIRE: Ray’s Downtown presents Joey George & the Deadbeat Daddies

MONDAY, APRIL 23

O’MALLEY’S: The Garden DADA: Open Mic KILL YOUR IDOL: Drag Mondays

TUESDAY, APRIL 24

DADA: Comedy Open Mic KILL YOUR IDOL: Open Mic

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25

BROWARD CENTER AU RENE THEATRE: Todd Rundgren’s UTOPIA GRAMPS: The Soft Moon, Boy Harsher, Laboratory

FILLMORE MIAMI: Dita Von Teese & the Copper Coupe KILL YOUR IDOL: Wes Williams Band

RESPECTABLE STREET: DJ Battle

THURSDAY, APRIL 26

VOLTAIRE: Sweet Sweet Songwriter Nite KELSEY THEATER: Nile & Soulfly

WPB WATERFRONT: Greye

DADA: Yardij KILL YOUR IDOL: Karaoke with Shelley Novak

RESPECTABLE STREET: Yung Tarzan

FUNKY BUDDHA: Rio Peterson, Jakob Takos, Brent Rothenberg, John Lee DP CWS: Marcus Amaya

FRIDAY, APRIL 27

DADA: Nervous Monks, Glass Body

RESPECTABLE STREET: MASS ft. Nina Belief w/ DJ Lavidicus, Artist Cody Parker

FRIDAY, APRIL 20

VOLTAIRE: Nervous Monks, Glass Body, MonsterTeeth, Donzii, Wake Up CWS: Solemark STACHE: Fusik DADA: We Are Monty HULLABALOO: Matchstick Johnny KILL YOUR IDOL: AmericanGrime Proper

RESPECTABLE STREET: Glow in the Dark Rave SUBCULTURE DELRAY: DirtBike FLOYD MIAMI: Call Super FUNKY BUDDHA: Danielle Mohr, Nikki Lickstein

HULLABALOO: Markis Hernandez Trio KILL YOUR IDOL: Shameless Burlesque FUNKY BUDDHA: Yardij, King Complex, Jessica Morale CWS: The Craven STACHE: Juke, Black Friday

SATURDAY, APRIL 28 DADA: Remyz

VOLTAIRE: Cabaret Voltaire Deep House KILL YOUR IDOL: The Wire

RESPECTABLE STREET: Black Lodge

FUNKY BUDDHA: Spiral Light: A Grateful Dead Tribute KELSEY THEATER: NNC: The Helmsmen EP Release CWS: Tasty Vibrations

SUNDAY, APRIL 29

VOLTAIRE: Ray’s Downtown presents Medicine Hat

AFRO ROOTS WORLD MUSIC FEST

JOSE ELIAS

Dig into South Florida’s homegrown world music scene, and sooner than later you’ll find Jose Elias.

A player of guitar and tres, record producer and allaround music enabler, Elias is everywhere, bending grooves with Miami’s eclectic Spam Allstars or covering traditional Cuban songs with his Grammynominated band, Conjunto Progreso. Or working with any number of other projects that he takes on when the spirit moves him.

Consider the festival Elias launched in 1999 as an outlet for a band, the Afro Polyphonic Space Orchestra, that he put together because he had just seen a documentary on Sun Ra, the pioneer of futuristic Afro-naut jazz, and he wanted to make music like that. Since then, Elias “has brought phenomenal musicians from Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean” to Florida, says Laura Quinlan, formerly of Miami Beach music presenter the Rhythm Foundation.

At this year’s 20th edition of the Afro Roots World Music Festival, the headliner will be Sun Ra Arkestra, the actual ensemble that first inspired Elias and now carries on the work of its late namesake. Opening is Mourikeba Kouyate, an Orlando-based kora player and story-song-teller originally from Senegal.

This year also marks an expansion — an extension of the brand — from one-off concert to multiple gigs up and down the coast wrapped around the main event. The Road to Afro Roots began in late January at Guanabanas in Jupiter with performances by Sanba Zao, Cortadito and another Elias band, the Nag Champayons.

“We started to expand the reach of the festival in other counties, which has never happened before,” Elias tells PureHoney. The flagship festival is April 28 at the North Beach Bandshell. The series continues in the Florida Keys with a gig on Islamorada, also on April 28, and one in Key West on May 19 — “a breath of fresh air,” as Elias puts it, down in the spiritual home of “Cheeseburgers in Paradise” enthusiast Jimmy Buffett. A label, Afro Roots Records, is also in the works.

The 20th Afro Roots World Music Festival, with Sun Ra Arkestra and Mourikeba Kouyate, takes place April 28 at the North Beach Bandshell in North Miami Beach. Details on the festival and Road to Afro Roots performances at afrorootsfest.com ~ Sean Piccoli

GRENDEL, SEVERED NATIONS Ben Wong

In literature, Grendel is a mythic aberration of Christendom, a mutant descendant of Cain who lives at odds with humankind in the Anglo-Saxon epic “Beowulf,” but is imagined more compassionately in John Gardner’s eponymous 1971 novel as a tragic creature, torn between self-reliance and self-sacrifice, nihilism and heroism.

GRENDEL

In music, JD Tucker and his Dutch ensemble Grendel embody many of these issues, but in the pulsating and infinitely dark realm of electronic body music. Formed in 1997, Grendel is still in the vanguard of electro-industrial, aggrotech, hardcore techno music. Now based in the United Kingdom, Grendel continues to push genre boundaries with music that is deliberate and almost jingoistic in its military flavor.

“Over the years I’ve seen EBM evolve quite a bit, due to contemporary fashion and technological developments,” Tucker tells PureHoney. “What’s interesting is that there was a big shift in the early 2000’s toward more mainstream dance music genres, but in recent years there’s been quite a revolt.”

It’s a backlash against more commercialized electronica that Tucker welcomes as the entire dance music ecosystem is increasingly digitized and estranged from any ties to analog culture.

Grendel’s latest, “Age of the Disposable Body,” released last fall on Germany’s Infacted Recordings, is a muscular and deep exploration by Tucker and Co. of the genre’s possibilities. Danceable even as it prompts a brooding selfreflection, it’s built on all of his considerable musical knowledge. “I came up with a sonic pallet first, then a groove and a musical phrase which I felt was haunting,” he says. “I opted for vintage equipment, such as older samplers, drum computers and hardware/analogue synths. These have their restrictions which made me work more impulsively and creatively.”

Their “Severed Nations” tour will feature the addition of guitarist Erik Gustafson, Neal Reed on keys and drummer Ben Tourkantonis for a club experience that will incorporate pre-recorded sampling and live performance. The indefatigable Tucker, nowhere as conflicted as the beast from which he take his band name, will finish up 2018 with a new EP and the soundtrack for a video game.

Grendel, with Ghostfeeder, Peter Turns Pirate and DJ Paul Klov, performs April 13 at Respectable Street in West Palm Beach. sub-culture.org ~ Abel Folgar

DESCENDENTS, buzzin’ at 40 Coffee — your best way to start the day, and a source of neverending inspiration for the Descendents and the entire West Coast punk ethos they helped to create.

The band’s exalted repertoire includes “Coffee Mug,” “Kids on Coffee” and a 2016 album, “Hypercaffium S p a z z i n a t e . ” DESCENDENTS Descendents drummer Bill Stevenson has also worked with Black Flag, another prominent Southern California hardcore band that paid its own java tribute with “Black Coffee,” a track Stevenson produced and played on.

Both bands are an aural representation of staring at the walls with tons of energy and nothing to do — the ideal sound for ADD-addled suburban L.A. skate rats.

Clearly, they aren’t the only ones simpatico with a caffeine spazz attack, as similarly amped-up punk bands have multiplied, while the Descendents themselves — formed in 1978 — barrel along with no finish line in sight. “Hypercaffium Spazzinate” has the energy of a band half their age. And the Descendents’ members have never really rested, filling the breaks with side projects and other endeavors that demonstrate an impressive, even heroic, work ethic.

And yet it took a bit of serendipity to pull the Descendents into the 21st Century as a fully operational band. After “Everything Sucks” in 1996, years went by with individual band members otherwise occupied. Finally, they were approached by an admirer: Michael Burkett, a.k.a. Fat Mike of NOFX, the band, and Fat Wreck Chords, the label. As Stevenson would say later, “If you’ve got the owner of the label saying he wants to put out a record by what is probably his favorite band of all time, that’s rad. That’s the best possible position for a band to be in.”

2004’s “Cool to Be You” followed, and then came an even longer (but productive) interval before “Hypercaffium Spazzinate” arrived on another musician-owned West Coast punk label, Epitaph.

So here we are: 40 years in, still going strong. Some of the Descendents left music entirely for long stretches. Some never stopped playing. Some have kids. Some don’t. Everyone’s old and yet they can still do the damn thing. Whatever else has kept these guys together, the coffee probably helped.

Descendents play April 13th at Revolution Live in Fort Lauderdale. jointherevolution.net ~ Tim Moffatt

ORCHESTRAL MANUEVERS IN THE DARK How tight is your black t-shirt bro?

Probably not enough to legit love Orchestral Manoeuvers in the Dark; not the way they deserve. Do you even John Hughes, man?

OMD was started in the heyday of 1970s macho dude rock, which gave Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys something to bond over — namely, their hatred of it. The fellas fell more into the Brian Eno and Kraftwerk end of the musical pool. To prove how anti they were, they OMD picked their artsy band name as a way to distance themselves from the punk rock embraced by that era’s music hipsters.

OMD, from around Liverpool, weren’t the only punk-era Brits to gravitate towards dance. Factory Records, in nearby Manchester, was also up and running, and would release OMD’s breakout first single, “Electricity.” Before long, the duo was signed to a Virgin Records subsidiary and opening for another budding synth icon, Gary Numan, on his first major solo tour of Britain.

And a group founded in opposition to standard songwriting practices drifted back toward pop, because a capacity for melody has a way of asserting itself.

OMD became an ’80s band du jour thanks to “If You Leave” — their fallback, incredibly, for the archetypal teen rom-com, “Pretty in Pink,” screenplay by Hughes. Their first offering, “Goddess of Love,” fared badly with test audiences.

OMD rebounded and wrote “If You Leave” in 20 minutes, and it kicks off what is still one of the most critically acclaimed movie soundtracks ever.

For all that, OMD finally decided success wasn’t happening on favorable terms.

They disbanded and in 1996 officially retired the OMD name. But seemingly out of nowhere came an offer to regroup, and 14 years of recording silence ended in 2010 with “Liberator,” the first of three 21st Century OMD albums, the latest being 2017’s well-reviewed “The Punishment of Luxury.”

Looking back, McClusky last year told Rolling Stone, “Never, ever would we get a record contract now — two kids from a [Liverpool] suburb who looked ridiculous.” But what about you, black t-shirt guy? Are you too cool to like OMD? Maybe you’re not cool enough.

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark play April 14 at Revolution Live in Fort Lauderdale. jointherevolution.net ~ Tim Moffatt

THE BLACK ANGELS, BLACK LIPS The Black Angels love the Velvet Underground. I mean, who doesn’t?

C’mon, they’re the Velvets. For a psych rock band there is no greater personification of druggy aesthetics and downtown cool. But the Black Angels are more than their influences. They play a killer live show, something that couldn’t be said with any consistency about the Velvets. The Black Angels have also lasted longer, time they’ve used to build an enviable reputation.

They were the band behind legendary psych rocker Roky Erickson, of 13th Floor Elevators fame, in his return to performing beginning in 2008 after years THE BLACK ANGELS subsumed by mental illness. The Austin, Texas-based Angels have shared bills with Silver Apples, Ravonettes, Black Keys, Queens of the Stone Age and a plethora of other bands your stoner friends totally dig.

Their newest, “Death Song,” is intricate, layered, psychedelic rock that relies less on fuzz and feedback, and more on tone. Where some psych bands drown their work in squall, the Black Angels seek precision. The sound is more moody “Conan The Barbarian” scoring and less ’60s drop-out music. It’s a welcome change to hear a band of this ilk de-emphasize drone and lean into the writing — as if an inner voice had spoken up: “Yeah, we get it: You like psych.” Black Angels have responded with an almost temperate album that might expand the parameters of what psych can be.

“One of the things we try to think about with our music is what the 13th Floor Elevators said [on ‘Roller Coaster’], ‘Open up your mind and let everything come through,’ ” Angels guitarist Christian Bland told Observer in 2017. “Be open and willing to hear people out … and if you find out they don’t agree with you, stand your ground.”

They’re joined by Atlanta’s own bad boys of psych, Black Lips, they of the early oughts incursions into Churchill’s Pub in Miami that brandished fire, nudity and bodily fluids in varying amounts. Sorry if you missed; it really was good times. I would almost hazard that the Velvet Underground never had that much fun, ’cause heroin seems like the antithesis of rock ’n’ roll.

The Black Angels and Black Lips perform April 17 at Revolution in Fort Lauderdale, https://www.jointherevolution.net ~ Tim Moffatt

KILL YOUR IDOL RAD SHOWS, ALCOHOL, ETC. OPEN TIL 5AM DAILY

222 ESPANOLA WAY MIAMI BEACH