Texas Music News aka Houston Music News aka Music News

Vol. 39 - No. 1 • OCTOBER 2020 • www.houstonmusicnews.net • FREE

& ENTERTAINMENT

Guy and Jeska Forsyth

Kat James Benefit At Backwoods ALSO IN THIS ISSUE Saloon

SOUL ASYLUM • MAJOR LAZER AARON WATSON • BONNIE BISHOP COMBICHRIST • INSANE CLOWN POSSE

GRILL & SPORTS BAR 202 Sawdust Rd. (The Woodlands) • 281-363-2574 • www.19th.cc Every Thursday Night

Friday, October 2 7 Mile Band

Saturday, October 3 Mouth For War & Protectors Of The Realm

Saturday, October 10 Brett Axelson

Live Jam Session!

All Musicians Welcome!

Friday, October 16 Doug Wescott, Page 9, A.J. Santana

Saturday, October 17 Chase Moody, Kristopher Allen, Montana Nagy

Saturday, October 24 Angry Joe & The Holy Socks, 5Fifteen, Cymblem, & The Skematics

Friday, October 30

Saturday, October 31

Odd Fellas & Drunk Ned

Storm Surge

The 19th Hole Grill & Bar is celebrating our 30th Year Anniversary of being a live music venue

DART TOURNAMENT EVERY MONDAY NIGHT!!

Take I-45 to the Rayford/Sawdust exit in Spring • Go west on Rayford/Sawdust • Make a right turn at the first red light We’re at the end of the strip center on your left!

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Music News • October 2020

October 2020 Welcome to the October Issue of Music News. I don’t usually mention this kind of thing, but this month Music News starts it’s 39th year of business in the Houston area. It has been my pleasure to be able to tell you about what’s going on in the Houston area for 38 years now and I’m extremely proud to have made it this far. HopefullY this coming year will be far better off than what we’ve had to go through for these past 6 months. It won’t be easy, but hopefully it will be better. Thank you for reading Music News.

I’d like to thank all the folks that came out for the benefits for Kat from Troublemaker and Tommy Skinner from the 19th Hole. Both benefits were huge successes. The attendance for both was fantastic, and a lot of money was raised for both parties. For those of you who are not familiar about what happened with these benefits, here’s a rundown. Kat is in need of a Kidney Transplant and medical bills are just piling up there right now. She could really use your help in any form that you would like to donate. You can contact her or her husband Brian at Kat’s Guitars. Just because the benefit is past doesn’t mean they don’t need any help. Anything that you can do now would be greatly appreciated. Now, in a sad note, they had a silent auction at The Backwoods Saloon to help raise money for Kat and somebody attending that benefit stole a guitar that was being auctioned away. The guitar was autographed by the band Blondie, so if anybody sees it or hears about it’s whereabouts, please contact Kat’s Guitars or me. It is a very terrible thing that somebody would stoop so low as to steal something that was donated for this cause, so please help us find it. The benefit for Tommy Skinner was also to help pay medical expenses and such. Tommy went through two Brain Operations recently and his bills are piling up as well. Besides the medical bills, Tommy also missed some work during that time and we all know how tough it is when your paycheck is affected.

Again, just because these benefits have passed doesn’t mean these folks don’t need your support.

Please donate to both of them. You can reach Tommy through The Acadia Bar and Grill.

As we all know, bars and clubs are being deeply affected by the pandemic. The governor of Texas is forcing them to get a restaurant license to open, which for some of them is an impossibility. A few clubs are making these steps, but it is still going to be hard for them. Anything you can do to help out these venues when they open would be deeply appreciated as well. Let’s see what we can do to help our music community open again and thrive. Support your local club when you get the chance.

And now on to the new issue of Music News... In this issue you will be able to get information on Soul Asylum, Major Lazer, Guy & Jeska Forsyth, Aaron Watson, Bonnie Bishop, Combichrist, and the Insane Clown Posse. That’s quite a group of people isn’t it. From Americana / Blues to Country to Rock, we’ve got it all here for you.

I sincerely hope that everybody reading Music News finds something here that they like and I would like to encourage you to let your friends and colleagues know about us. Just look for us every month at http://www.houstonmusicnews.net. I would also like to encourage you to email us for a free subscription to Music News as well. Just email us at musicnew@airmail.net and in the subject line simply put “Sign Me Up” and we’ll email you a copy each month when it is published.

Kevin Wildman Kevin Wildman Editor and Publisher

Kevin Wildman Editor and Publisher Web Address http://www.houstonmusicnews.net Mailing Address Box 1162, League City, TX 77573 Phone 281-650-1953

For Advertising email us at musicnew@airmail.net or call 281-650-1953 For A Free Subscription email us at musicnew@airmail.net and in the subject line put “Sign Me Up Now” Octoer 2020 • Music News

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Contents OCTOBER 2020

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SOUL ASYLUM Warehouse Live Presents The Visual Experience Soul Asylum - “Hurry Up And Wait: Some More” Livestream From Minneapolis October 10th

6 MAJOR LAZER

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Major Lazer Brings His “Lazerism” Tour to White Oak Music Hall

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GUY & JESKA FORSYTH Guy and Jeska Forsyth Perform At The Mucky Duck October 17th In Concert and Livestream

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12 AARON WATSON

Aaron Watson Brings His “Red Bandana” Tour To Dosey Doe Big Barn

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BONNIE BISHOP GRAMMY® Award Winner Bonnie Bishop Performs at Main Street Crossing

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Contents OCTOBER 2020

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COMBI CHRIST Combichrist Perform At The Scout Bar October 13th

26 INSANE CLOWN POSSE The Insane Clown Posee Return To Warehouse Live October 16!

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October 2020 • Music News

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Warehouse Live Presents The Visual Experience Soul Asylum - “Hurry Up And Wait: Some More” Livestream From Minneapolis October 10th Soul Asylum will be presenting a special televised even this month with a concert at Warehouse Live on October 10th. The show is called “Hurry Up And Wait: Some More” and it will be livestreamed from Minneapolis. Special guest on the show will be Local H. Soul Asylum are an American altrock band based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Formed in 1981, the group currently consists of Dave Pirner, Michael Bland, Winston Roye, and Justin Sharbono, though Pirner is the only remaining original member.

Releasing eleven albums in their 35 years together, from their 1984 debut ‘Say What You Will, Clarence... Karl Sold the Truck’, to their latest record, 2016’s ‘Change of Fortune’, Soul Asylum have earned Grammy Awards, platinum discs, and a loyal worldwide fanbase.

In the ’80s, Soul Asylum were one of the hardest-working bands on the underground rock scene, the littlebrother band of Hüsker Dü and the

Replacements, known for their raucous but emphatic combination of punk rock energy, hard rock guitar firepower, and songs that ranged from angry to heartfelt.

Released in 1988, Hang Time made them cult heroes and favorites with critics, but with 1992’s Grave Dancers Union they added a bit more polish, hardened their guitar attack, wrote more anthemic choruses, and became one of the biggest acts on the alternative rock scene thanks to the singles “Runaway Train” and “Black Gold.” After the multi-platinum success of Grave Dancers Union, Soul Asylum had trouble repeating their commercial and critical success, and faded out at the end of the ’90s. However, the death of bassist Karl Mueller in 2005 sparked a return to the studio and the stage, with the band soldiering on under the leadership of lead singer Dave Pirner and releasing albums like 2012’s Delayed Reaction and 2016’s Change of Fortune.

Soul Asylum’s story begins in 1981, when three friends from Minne-

apolis whose loyalties ran to the noisy clamor of punk, the volume and guitar power of hard rock, and the soul-bearing tales of country, decided to form a band.

Guitarist Dan Murphy, bassist Karl Mueller, and drummer Dave Pirner began playing out as Loud Fast Rules, with Murphy and Pirner taking turns on vocals. In 1982, the group landed two songs on a cassette-only compilation called Barefoot & Pregnant; the tape was released by Reflex Records, a local label run by Hüsker Dü’s Bob Mould. (Another Reflex collection, Kitten, would feature live material by the group, credited to Proud Crass Fools). In 1983, Pirner moved from drums to lead vocals and rhythm guitar, while Pat Morley took over as percussionist and the band changed their name to Soul Asylum. In 1984, Minneapolis-based Twin/Tone Records signed Soul Asylum, and Bob Mould produced the group’s label debut, a nine-song EP called Say What You continued on next page October 2020 • Music News

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Soul Asylum continued from previous page Will...Everything Can Happen (it was later expanded into a full-length album with the addition of session outtakes, retitled Say What You Will, Clarence...Karl Sold the Truck). Mould also took Soul Asylum on the road as Hüsker Dü toured in support of their album Flip Your Wig in 1985, exposing the band to larger audiences outside of their hometown, and Soul Asylum band began hitting the road with a vengeance as headliners, playing nearly any small club that would have them. The band also gained a new drummer when Grant Young replaced the departing Pat Morley.

When Soul Asylum returned to the studio to record 1986’s Made to Be Broken (with Mould again producing), they were a far stronger and more powerful band, and the album won enthusiastic reviews in the alternative rock press. Another full album, While You Were Out, was released the same year, and their relentless touring schedule was earning the band a loyal and growing audience. By this time, Twin/ Tone had struck a deal with A&M Records in which the major label would distribute some of their more successful acts, and in 1988, Soul Asylum were tapped to join the A&M roster. The band celebrated by cutting an EP for their European label, Clam Dip & Other Delights, which parodied the cover of Whipped Cream & Other Delights, the iconic album by A&M founder Herb Alpert; the EP was given a belated stateside release by Twin/Tone in 1989.

Shortly after completing Clam Dip, Soul Asylum went into the studio with producer Lenny Kaye, and 1988’s Hang Time was arguably the group’s finest album, with Kaye’s production consolidating the band’s melodic strengths as Soul Asylum delivered a set of strong, powerful performances and emotionally eloquent songs. Hang Time fared well on college radio, and the band toured hard in support, but sales were not much better than the band had managed on Twin/Tone. A&M had greater expectations for their 1990’s And the Horse They Rode in On, produced by Steve Jordan; however, the album, mostly 8 Music News • October 2020

recorded live on a sound stage, failed to capture the band’s on-stage energy, and it was a critical and commercial fizzle.

A&M soon dropped the band.

With no record deal and Pirner dealing with hearing problems, Soul Asylum considered breaking up, but after Murphy and Pirner did an acoustic tour as Murphy & Pirfinkle, they began working up new material, and Soul Asylum landed a new record deal with Columbia. When Grave Dancers Union arrived in the spring of 1992, the timing was perfect for Soul Asylum; the massive success of Nirvana’s Nevermind, which had topped the charts a few months earlier, made it easier for a band from the indie circuit to get a hearing on radio and MTV, and crunchy but melodic tunes like “Somebody to Shove” and “Black Gold” helped open doors for the band, scoring significant alternative radio airplay and MTV rotation. When the ballad “Runaway Train” was released as the album’s third single, it rose to number five on the Billboard Singles charts and won a Grammy as Best Rock Song; Grave Dancers Union went on to sell two million copies.

Having finally achieved stardom, Soul Asylum found it was hard to hold on to. Following extensive touring in support of Grave Dancers Union, Grant Young was fired from the band and replaced by journeyman drummer Sterling Campbell; it was later revealed that Campbell had played on several tracks on Grave Dancers Union. In 1995, the band released Let Your Dim Light Shine, which was produced by Butch Vig; the alternative music press, who had previously championed the band, displayed little enthusiasm for the newly famous Soul Asylum, and while the album would in time go platinum, it failed to produce a hit along the lines of “Runaway Train,” and was considered a disappointment. The band returned in 1998 with Candy from a Stranger, but the album was savaged by critics and was a flop in the marketplace. Soul Asylum simply sounded tired, and they responded by taking a break. Pirner released a solo album in 2002, and

Murphy, who had launched Golden Smog as a side project in 1992, devoted much of 1998 to recording and supporting the second Golden Smog album, Weird Tales. The band played occasional shows, but for the most part they stayed under the radar and seemed to be in no hurry to record again.

In 2004, Soul Asylum reconvened to begin work on a new album, joined by a new drummer, Michael Bland. But sessions came to a halt when bassist Karl Mueller was diagnosed with throat cancer. The Minneapolis music community rallied in support, and a benefit to help with Mueller’s medical expenses made news when Bob Mould and Grant Hart played two songs together, making their first joint appearance since the breakup of Hüsker Dü. However, Mueller lost his battle with cancer on June 17, 2005, and Soul Asylum completed their album, The Silver Lining, with help from several guest musicians, including Tommy Stinson of the Replacements. Columbia/Legacy released The Silver Lining in the summer of 2006; it came and went with little notice, despite a nationwide tour in support (with George Scot McKelvey on bass).

Soul Asylum was dropped by Columbia, but in 2009, the band announced they were working on a new album, with Tommy Stinson signing on as their official bassist.

In early 2012, Soul Asylum signed with the independent 429 Records label, and the album Delayed Reaction followed that July. The album was one of the group’s strongest efforts in years and they toured in support, but by the end of the year, Dan Murphy announced he had left the band. Undaunted, Dave Pirner soldiered on with a new Soul Asylum lineup featuring Justin Sharbono on lead guitar, Winston Roye on bass, and Michael Bland on drums. After launching a crowdfunding campaign to finance a new recording project, Soul Asylum completed their first post-Murphy album, Change of Fortune, which was released by eOne Music in March 2016. The respected reissue label Omnivore Recordings offered fans a detailed look into Soul Asylum’s early days with expanded and remastered editions of 1984’s Say What You Will... and 1986’s Made to Be Broken, both released in July 2018. In April 2020, Soul Asylum returned to action with the album Hurry Up and Wait, which introduced guitarist Ryan Smith, who joined after Justin Sharbono left the group.

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OPEN MIC EVERY WEDNESDAY HOSTED BY CASUAL HEATHENS Thursday, October 1 - Urban Rivers / Blackmoore / Revision Friday, October 2 - October Roar / Southern Revival / Cauterized / StateOfThieves / Pai Pai Saturday, October 3 - Kollective Mindz / Eternal Turtle / Shelter the Orphan Casimir Roman Sunday, October 4 - Texas Contraband Thursday, October 8 - Nygma / Last Action Heroes / Undotted Eyes Friday, October 9 - Tony Toneman Black Memorial Show Saturday, October 10 - Tony Toneman Black memorial show Sunday, October 11 - 2 Minute Warning / Sin Apuros 66 / Vulgo / The Yesmen Thursday, October 15 - Nygma / Anything But Human / Surrender Stella Friday, October 16 - The Guillotines / Merkava / American Psychos Saturday, October 17 - A Night of Rock w/ Fleetwood Mac / Heart Tribute Sunday, October 18 - Gandhi’s Gun / Days To Come / WIR / Lucid Illusions Thursday, October 22 - The Rotarty Phones / Drunk Ned / Nova Star Friday, October 23 - Gran Andes / Santa Mortem / Bloodstone / Chaotic Justice Saturday, October 24 - All Hallows Eve a Tribute to Type O Negative / Bone Sunday, October 25- Skeptik Nation Presents IDK WTF Ft. Badbox and The Real McCoys Thursday, October 29 - High Voltage Rock Camp Friday, October 30- Epic Death / Whiskey Fueled Death / Bar Rats / Iperion Saturday, October 31 - Mouth For War - Pantera Tribute / Powerslave - Iron Maiden Tribute October 2020 • Music News

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Major Lazer Performs At White Oak Music Hall October 26th White Oak Music Hall is happy to announce that Major Lazer will be there in concert on October 26th. The band is touring in support of their fourth studio album, 2020’s Lazerism.

Originally launched at the end of the 2000s as a dancehall reggae-influenced side project of two taste-making dance producers, Major Lazer gradually became one of the most popular acts on the planet, driven by a world-uniting mission to “make the party bigger.” The group have collaborated with, produced, or remixed dozens of acts from around the world, including megastars like Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, and Ariana Grande, and have always kept their ears on emerging styles and scenes, including reggaeton, trap, and electro-house. First emerging with the acclaimed 2009 fulllength Guns Don’t Kill People... Lazers Do, Major Lazer were a crucial part of the EDM boom during the 2010s. Their carnival-like live performances began attracting bigger crowds, and by the middle of the decade, they achieved record streaming numbers for their biggest hits, including 2015’s “Lean On” and 2016’s “Cold Water.” Also in 2016, they played one of the first major 10

Music News • October

2020

concerts in Cuba following the restoration of diplomatic ties between Washington, D.C., and Havana, subsequently releasing a documentary of the event titled Give Me Future.

Major Lazer was formed in 2008 by producers Diplo and Switch, who had met years earlier while producing M.I.A.’s first album, and subsequently worked with Santigold. Recorded at Jamaica’s Tuff Gong studios, Major Lazer’s debut album, Guns Don’t Kill People... Lazers Do, featured vocal contributions from noted dancehall stars including Vybz Kartel, Busy Signal, Mr. Vegas, and Turbulence, as well as Santigold, Nina Sky, and rapper Amanda Blank. Much anticipation and online chatter were fueled in part by the novelty video/song “Zumbi,” featuring the comedian Andy Milonakis; the frenetic, legitimate lead single “Hold the Line”; and an invented backstory about a renegade Jamaican commando with prosthetic laser arms who was allegedly a Zombie War veteran and vampirefighting C.I.A. operative (but was demonstrably a rampant Twitter user).

The album was released in June 2009 as a joint venture between Downtown

Records and Diplo’s Mad Decent label.

Lazers Never Die, an EP with two new songs and three remixes, followed in 2010, along with Lazerproof, a collaborative mixtape with the English electropop duo La Roux.

In 2012, Snoop Dogg joined Diplo for the digital reggae single “La La La,” released under the name Snoop Lion, while Switch announced he was leaving the project. Likewise, hype man Skerrit Bwoy left in order to pursue religion.

Diplo carried on, with producer Jillionaire joining the group for Free the Universe, their sophomore album. The 2013 release featured Wyclef, Bruno Mars, Vybz Kartel, and Shaggy on its long guest list. Sean Paul and Pharrell Williams joined the party for the 2014 EP Apocalypse Soon, which was also the first Major Lazer release to include Walshy Fire, who had replaced Skerrit Bwoy as the group’s live MC. The 2015 album Peace Is the Mission featured the massive hit “Lean On,” plus charttopping guests like Ariana Grande, Ellie Goulding, and 2 Chainz. It was also supported by an animated series that aired on the FXX cable television network. An extended edition of Peace Is

the Mission appeared in November 2015, sporting five bonus songs.

In 2016, Major Lazer scored their biggest pop hit yet with “Cold Water” (featuring Justin Bieber and MØ), which topped the charts in over a dozen countries. “Cold Water” was followed in late 2016 by “Believer,” which featured production by the Dutch duo Showtek.

“Run Up” arrived in early 2017 and was a collaboration with Nicki Minaj and PartyNextDoor. The six-song EP Know No Better appeared in June; its title track featured Travis Scott, Camila Cabello, and Quavo. Other guests on the release included Sean Paul, Busy Signal, Konshens, and Jidenna. Additionally, the group released the soundtrack to Give Me Future, the documentary about their historic 2017 free concert in Havana, which was attended by around half a million fans.

Essentials In 2018, the trio issued a series of singles, including “Miss You” with Cashmere Cat and Tory Lanez; “Let Me Live” with Rudimental, Anne-Marie, and Mr. Eazi; and “Tied Up” with Mr. Eazi and Raye. The double-disc collection Essentials rounded up 25 of their

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biggest singles to date. They also released Afrobeats, a brief mix CD showcasing the African dance-pop movement.

“Trigger,” a collaboration with Khalid, arrived in October 2019 as part of the video game soundtrack Death Stranding: Timefall.

More songs followed, including “Can’t Take It From Me” with Skip Marley, “Make It Hot” with Anitta, and “Que Calor” with J

Rock and Blues International • August 2020

Balvin and El Alfa, all of which were included on the group’s fourth studio album, 2020’s Lazerism.

October 2020 • Music News

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Guy and Jeska Forsyth Perform At The Mucky Duck October 17th In Concert and Livestream Guy and Jeska Forsyth will be returning to The Mucky Duck for an intimate concert experience on October 17th. Besides being on stage there, the show will also be livestreamed, so if you can’t make it there in persong, you can still see the show in the comfort of your own home. Just go to The Mucky Duck website and you’ll be able to tune in. It’s an early concert, the show starts at 6:30pm.

The remarkable voice of Jeska 12

Music News • October 2020

Forsyth, who married Guy early in 2018 is the Yin to Guy Forsyth’s Yang. Jeska, a singer since childhood, started performing in 3rd Grade theatre and never stopped. She once sang the National Anthem for Nascar and was accompanied by F-16 Fighter jets, and ruled the San Angelo music scene. Jeska Owned a Blues club in San Angelo named Sealy Flatts where she met her husband for the first time. Now they are co-writing material for her upcoming album, that

people demand every time she sings.

The Forsyth’s duo performance is what people call “intimate” and “ breathtaking,” with Guys vocals only being lifted with Jeska singing harmony softly behind him when she isn’t leading her own tunes.

Guy is no newcomer to the stage having opened and performed with such acts as Ray Charles, Robert Cray, Dr.John, B.B. King, Jimmie Vaughan and Lucinda Williams. Guy enjoys using the

duo as a fun singer songwriter situation where he can become connected on a more personal level with the audience.

Austin, Texas-based musician, singer, storyteller, and songwriter Guy Forsyth was Born in the Denver City Hospital in Colorado on November 30, 1968 to Stephen and Vicki Forsyth . After a short time spent discovering that he and college didn’t agree, Forsyth joined the circus – or at least the closest thing he could find, The Renaissance Festival. He got a job as a stuntman playing Robin Hood, getting beaten up by an actor playing Little John in an act that ended with Forsyth getting his butt kicked and thrown into filthy water. He has tried to work his way up in showbiz ever since.

While on the road, he would spend the weekends performing and the weekdays healing. He would spend his time practicing guitar, and listening to music in the places they would go like New Orleans, New York, Memphis. On January 10, 1990, Forsyth packed anything that would fit in a U-Haul trailer and drove south on I-35 from Kansas City, Kansas to Texas to make his fortune in the music industry. He found himself playing at Joe’s Generic Bar down on Sixth Street in Austin, busking on the West Mall of the University Of Texas Campus and anywhere that would listen.

Today he has played around the world, made 20 or so records, won many awards and helped define Austin music.

Forsyth is simply a one-of-a-kind original. He not only writes and sings his own songs, but he enjoys telling the stories behind their inspiration. He is a modern American Songster. Not one song is the same, but they share the same care and craftsmanship. No matter the tune, no matter the rhythm, Forsyth’s music will bring a smile and and make the body move. One could even argue that he was made for this lifestyle—one of endless music and lyrical storytelling.

Blues made him want to play.

Forsyth’s first works were electric, raw blues that held nothing back. When he showed up in Austin, he had with him a bandolier of Harmonicas and a carnival barkers voice that could cut through the noise of the busiest night on Sixth street.

In 1999 Forsyth & Artie Gold recorded their recorded first Blues album,”Scalpel & Sledgehammer” on cassette tape. “It was recorded at Erik Blakley’s home studio (for $8 an hour), where Artie produced, recorded and paid for it all himself,” said Forsyth. “We sold it at gigs, took some to the Antone’s record

shop, there might be a couple still there. I was the Sledgehammer.”

He found himself working his way up from the lowest working man blues clubs to Austin’s Blues Throne, Antone’s. Clifford Antone signed Guy to his prestigious Antone’s Blues Label after Guy’s band landed an every Sunday residency that lasted ten years (Needle Gun, Can you Live Without, Steak), and winning The Austin Chronicle Readers Poll for Best Blues Band for several years running.

Clifford Antone’s label suffered some trouble with the Law after being involved with a rather massive marijuana bust and, despite the records being critically acclaimed, the label went into a series of bankruptcies. Frustrated, Guy could not get his own records to sell.

Undeterred, he started The Asylum Street Spankers, an irreverent band that followed him in ecstatic, eclectic, theatrical acoustic display of American musical history, as if Rock and Roll had never happened that took Austin by storm, which was awarded best none of the above band and performed at the Austin Music Awards. While all of this was going on, Forsyth released a live record in Holland on a Dutch Label (High Temperature, Lizard disk) that made such an impact that Forsyth tours Europe almost every year, with North Europen Blues bands routinely covering his songs.

Forsyth’s most recent musical project, The Hot Nut Riveters, is a band that holds their own in a pure acoustic sound mix of eccentric bluegrassBluespop/Country Folk and they will be releasing their second album early in 2018 (Torches & Pitchforks part 1: Politics). And, if that wasn’t enough on his plate, Forsyth has been leading his award winning blues band. Over the years, Forsyth’s music had been featured, both live and recorded in favored pubs and bars of Austin, to movies (Waking Life and Hands on a Hard Body, to name a couple). He has been on tour nationwide and internationally, from festivals to shared stage time with the big boys (BB King, Ray Charles, Ben Harper, and John Hammond to name a few). To top his accomplishments, he won the Austin

Male Vocalist of the Year Award (2005) and is nominated again for the same title in 2018.

Forsyth’s life is not entirely focused on music, however. He is a firm believer of working together to bring about solid goals and happier times. He played for Bernie Sanders and sang This Land is Your Land with him during the Presidential Election of 2015-16 when he was campaigning in Austin, and is a firm and active supporter for HAAM (Health Alliance for Austin Musicians). To sustain his community on the most fundamental of levels he has taught TaiChi in Austin for 10 years to disabled vets, children & anyone else who wanted to learn for free giving lessons to those who wanted to learn, believing that it is a solid way to help center oneself and create balance in life.

“I learned yoga in the park, the community can take care of itself,” he says. “If you can afford to contribute, you should; when I can, I do.” He frequently visits schools to teach music for children, from instruments to lyrics; not just teaching them to play, mind you, but to understand the magic that is at their fingertips. Which is to say, the musician Guy Forsyth is a work of wonder; bright and eclectic as his music with a flair of “What next?” by the end of the day. With both his music and his way of life, he has us seated at the edge of our seats, waiting to see what will happen in the next scene. Forsyth is the proud father of 2 little girls and a compassionate member of the community and is always first to lend a hand.

October 2020 • Music News

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Bert Wills

Legendary Texas Singer/Songwriter Bert Wills Delivers The Goods

Down in southeastern Texas lives a man that was born in rural Kentucky but moved to Texas years ago. He came here playing the blues harp with a slow, winding country bent to it, part of his Kentucky roots, and the recording industry was quick to pick up on his unique sound.

Abilities is used in the plural here and that’s because the man not only wails a mean harp but his guitar work is aces as well. His name is Bert Wills and if you are a studio musician you know that name well as the man is sought after by many producers. One of those producers is Andy Bradley, known world wide for his talents at the console, his past co-ownership in of SugarHill Studios, and his successful book titled, “House Of Hits”. Bert and Andy go back a ways, 35 years to be exact, both know each other’s talents well so it would be of no big surprise that they could team on a compilation of Bert’s songs for a new album.

It would not be their first collaboration as Andy has recorded nearly every album Bert has presented to the world. A new album has come to life recently simply titled “Bert Wills”. It’s just being shipped to radio stations right now and let me tell you whether you are a blues fan or an Americana fan or both this album is packed with stirring and riveting selections. Both men have similar personalities, friendly but direct. Both will tell you where to go in a New York second if you are a poser and both will be the first to tell you how welcomed you are if you are the real deal. Bert is known throughout the industry internationally and has worked with a ton of well known stars over the years. He’s also an accomplished songwriter and when he puts his Kentucky roots into a song well Katy bar the door because it’s going to be good. His last gig was with Nashville artist Rob McNurlin who is part of the Marty Stuart clan. Then he returned to Texas to work on his new blues Americana album. The end result was a fourteen track collection of 13 original songs and14 one Rock cover,and notBlues a klunker among On the2020 collection you Music News • October International 2020them.

• September can hear the raw strains of good back woods country music in Bert’s voice and on the same collection you will hear some of the best blues you have heard in years. To learn more access www.bertwillsmusic.com

Lady Bianca Submitted for Grammy® Nomination

Aaron Watson 16

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Aaron Watson will be appearing in the Houston area this month at Dosey Doe Big Barn in The Woodlands. Aaron is on the road and still touring in support of his most recent album release, Red Bandana.

“The symbolism of the bandana for me is like the American working-class heart: hustle, grit ... hard work. Anywhere you find those things, you find that red bandana. It’s old-school but it’s also timeless.”

Old-school but timeless: That’s how Aaron Watson characterizes his bold new full-length collection, Red Bandana, but he could also be describing himself.

As a singer-songwriter, husband, father of three, and self-made musical success, the 41-year-old Texan has forged a slow and steady path to country stardom by both honoring tradition and embracing the unknown. He’s more comfortable than most walking the line.

Red Bandana not only reacquaints fans with an artist serious about song craft and sonic diversity; it also marks a career milestone for Watson. Twenty years after he released his debut studio album, 1999’s Singer/Songwriter, he’s found an imaginative way to commemorate his two-decade journey. The new record comprises 20 songs he wrote by himself, with tracks and musical moods that hit on every era of his life.

At Red Bandana’s heart is a couple of tunes that give the album its title.

First,“Riding With Red” elevates the lessons and the example offered by older, wiser cowboys. The real-life inspiration for the touching ballad? Texas cowboy poet Red Steagall, whom Watson considers a friend and mentor.

“My boys love Red. They just gravitate towards him; he’s a legend,”Watson says.“And in the song,you think that Red’s passed away.

But I wanted to write from that perspective so that people who have cowboys like that in their life will, after hearing that song, go hug them and know, ‘I don’t need to take that person forgranted.’”

Imagining the loss of such a large presence, “Riding With Red” seamlessly transitions into Red Bandana’s title track, an elegiac cowboy poetry benediction sure to leave a lump in anyone’s throat.

You’ll find equal parts sadness, joy, nostalgia, hope, familial love, and

strength throughout the new album. That was the design of Watson, who wrote the bulk of the songs during reflective mornings on the ranch in Buffalo Gap, Texason his beat-up first guitar bought from a pawn shop.

Some of the sounds that set a tone or help tie Red Bandana’s tracks together were captured right there among the comforts of home and family.

Consider the first thing you hear on the album —ambient chimes that lead into the mission-statement opener, “Ghost of Guy Clark.” Watson actually recorded the sounds of wind chimes handed down to him by both his grandmothers.

“I recorded their wind chimes in the closet at my house, and that’s how the record starts off,” Watson says.“Because there’s just an eeriness, a lonesome feeling when you hear those wind chimes.”

The eeriness is well-placed: “Ghost of Guy Clark” is a lyrical dream sequence in which Watson encounters and receives songwriting advice from a late legend. The song’s message is important enough that he follows it with a cathartic instrumental track, just to let the words sink in a little longer. And once the horn-tinged “El Comienzo Del Viaje” settles you, here come the driving beat and hard-lived lyrical message of “Dark Horse.”

It’s an ideal way to begin a new chapter following a period of greater awareness and chart success. The Underdog, Vaquero, and the hit country single “Outta Style” put a lot of new eyes and ears on Watson,from Texas and beyond. Yet the grassroots success didn’t translate to any traditional label deals, so he did what he does best: He worked harder and doubled down on his efforts.

Aaron Watson Brings His “Red Bandana” Tour To Dosey Doe Big Barn “I wanted to show the industry that I’m like a one-man wrecking machine,” Watson says.“That I own my label, I own my publishing, I wrote all my songs.

That country music is my only option. I have no Plan B; this is all I’ve got. So, for me, everything is on the line.”

Don’t mistake his urgency with a willingness to cut musical corners.

Watson is flexing his songwriting muscles more than ever before, delivering thoughtful lyrical concepts through the filters and the styles that have captured his musical imagination over the years. “More than being known as an artist, I want to be known as a songwriter. I think that’s the greatest title. All my heroes are songwriters.”

Those heroes are saluted substantially in many tracks on Red Bandana: “Country Radio” touches on a romance and nostalgia for simpler, sway-worthy childhood musical memories. “Legends” evokes the full-throated glory of Waylon Jennings with its irresistible hook of a line, “Just like my heroes/I’m as free as the wind.” “Am I Amarillo” would fit right into an’80s George Strait record. continued on next page October 2020 • Music News

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Aaron Watson continued from previous page And you get visions of Johnny Cash when you hear the train sounds (recorded

by Watson at his ranch) and the darker lyrical themes on “Trying Like the Devil.”

Of that last one, Watson says it might surprise some of his fans to know that he often faces and wrestles with personal demons. He’s felt misunderstood at times whenever he’s been portrayed as an infallible family man, nothing more.

“I can’t handle the pressure of people thinking that I have it all together,” Watson says. “I want to be that guy that I’m like, ‘I’m screwed up, but I keep trying.’ And the first time I sang [‘Trying Like the Devil’]to my wife she was like, ‘Wow. Guess you’re just going to air the dirty laundry.’ And I said, ‘It’s what you got to do, girl.’”

Emotional truth defines any Aaron Watson record, but it’s especially urgent and raw in unexpected spots on Red Bandana. The record ends with a simple tribute to those who lost their lives in the 2017 Route 91 Harvest festival shooting in Las Vegas(“58”), but shades of the same grief and empathy for humanity help to fuel the up-tempo, Tom-Pettystyle anthem, “Old Friend.” Petty passed away a day after the tragedy in Las Vegas.

In his grief following the two events, Watson came to a realization:“Music is so healing and music is that one thing we share in common. And that’s where I wrote ‘Old Friend.’I wanted it to have a Tom Petty vibe about it, but that song is about being kind to your neighbor and treating others the way that you want to be treated. You know, the golden rule.”

Watson fit so many ideas and sounds into one record seamlessly with the help of a new-to-him producer, rising NashvillestarJordan Lehning. An expert arranger who has assisted the likes of Rodney Crowell and Kacey Musgraves, Lehning was able to help Watson balance the stunning, emotional songswith less serious momentsthat could serve as a kind of country-radio gateway. After all 18

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the heartstrings pulled in “Blood Brothers” and “Home Sweet Home,” there are sexy toe-tappers likefirst single “Kiss That Girl Goodbye,”“Burn Em Down,” and “Shake a Heartache” to lighten the mood. For advice and approvalon the commercial appeal of a song, Watson turns to his precocious youngest child. “When my daughter likes a song and she forces me to put it on an album, what am I supposed to do?

My hands are tied. I have no control over my wife or my daughter. I do as I’m

told.”

Armed with 20 new songs, Watson feels more than ready to get out on the road and incorporate Red Bandana into his historically high-energy live concert dynamic. Even before the official tour begins, Watson says he’s already been having too much fun on stage.

“Our show right now is not even a fraction of what it’s going to be, but I swear, we start, we’re having fun, I look down at the clock and we’ve been playing for 75 minutes,” he says.

“There’s been shows where I’m exhausted, but the second I hit that stage and I see people are excited for me, oh man. That’s the greatest high. Those fans are the reason I’m here and keep showing up night after night.”

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Bonnie Bishop

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GRAMMY® Award-winning Bonnie Bishop will be performing this month at Main Street Crossing in Tomball this month on October 24th.

She is on tour in support of her most recent release, The Walk. The album was released just last year on October 4th.

The first thing that registers about Bonnie Bishop’s stirring album The Walk is that the seasoned Grammy winner is no longer trying to outrun herself; she owns whatever has come her way, good wind or ill. It’s an uplifting confessional that she dedicates ‘to all who wander’ – laying down searing, emotionally-charged variations to awardwinning producer Steve Jordan’s (Robert Cray, John Mayer, Buddy Guy) powerhouse production. She does so in a voice that aches and arches and grabs and never lets go.

Blessed with an authentically resounding range, a blistering lyrical gift, and OK - she admits it - a couple of inherent vices that any God-fearing Americana/country/soul artist must wrestle with after years of bringing it live and in-color, Bishop has now broken free from the bust-boom mentality of Nashville to walk a line of her own making. The recipe may sound oversimplified, but it’s a frank, funny, ferocious, insightful Bonnie Bishop we encounter on this path; a recharged singer/ songwriter full of grace. Her determination to put one foot in front of the other and find the road to reclamation shifted into overdrive when she left Nashville for her native Texas in 2017. Since then, she’s never looked back. The Walk soars as her most honest effort to date. It’s a groove-laden, lyrical lightning bolt from which the tonic of self-revelation pours forth on songs such as the grateful “Every Happiness Under The Sun” and the gut-wrenching “I Don’t Like To Be Alone.” The album’s euphoric closer, “Song Don’t Fail Me Now,” is Bonnie’s most heartfelt testament to date that music absolutely can still heal the spirit.

She framed the seven-song masterpiece in one word definitions as she was recording the album, such as PURPOSE for the album’s opening salvo “Love Revolution” and DOUBT for the moving title track “The Walk.” She captures the frailty of life’s contradictions and conflicts via her effortless vocal reach in bold strokes, bold, yet fragile enough to walk that razor-edge.

It’s Bonnie’s desire that fans and critics listen to The Walk from start to finish, “like albums were intended to be listened to,” she says. After returning from a therapeutic retreat that helped her get

GRAMMY® Award Winner Bonnie Bishop Performs at Main Street Crossing “un-blocked,” the album was kickstarted in a frenzy of writing-collaborations. “The retreat helped create a space of reflection and introspection so that I could deal with things in my past, things that we all eventually have to deal with. I came out of there and immediately made all these song-writing appointments.

Most of the album came from that burst of creativity. I didn’t even know I was writing an album, I just knew that the music was coming through me and that I wanted to write honest songs.”

Her reset also included an exit strategy out of a Nashville, a place that had nurtured her, yes, but where she also sometimes felt creatively confined. Her career began in Texas via the road of hard-knocks, playing original music in dive bars and honky tonks across her home state. She came to Nashville in 2008 after signing a publishing deal.

There she sharpened her acclaimed songwriting chops by writing with people like Mike Reid, Jimmy Wallace, Al Anderson and others who challenged and inspired her to dig deeper. Her big break would come when Bonnie Raitt recorded a song she and Anderson wrote, “Not Cause I Wanted To,” which would go on to net Bonnie Bishop her first

Grammy.

In all, she recorded five very wellreceived albums, rising though the country/Americana ranks, but finding herself forever on the road. At one point, she even decided to take a hiatus from the stress of the business and enroll in Sewanee University of the South, where she began working toward a masters in creative writing. In 2016, Thirty Tigers convinced her to record a new album with producer David Cobb. The universally acclaimed Ain’t Who I Was brought Bonnie back with a splash, showcasing the more soulful side of the dynamic singer and peeling off some of the Nashville veneer. She also began to steady her aim with what Pop Matters called a ‘slow burning self-reflection,’ armed with a voice and lyrical finesse that Rolling Stone quipped leveled ‘both barrels.’

But it’s more than a trigger-finger twitching on The Walk. Bonnie provocatively shines a light on her inner-self with this album, baring her soul and her love for groove while she digs deeper than she ever has before. “Ain’t Who I continued on next page Octoer 2020 • Music News

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Bonnie Bishop

through, just facing the fact that I didn’t feel ok being by myself.”

continued from previous page

She credits Jordan for insisting that song even go on the album. “It was such a personal song, I hadn’t really played it for anybody. I was reluctant to let Steve hear it because it wasn’t a message I was comfortable putting out there. It made me feel very naked. Of course, that ended up being his favorite song and he insisted we put it on the record. Then he came up with that sick groove and that’s when I knew I had picked the right producer. Steve was pushing me out of my comfort zone and creating the right kind of beats that made deep songs like that one danceable.”

Was was successful, and it had some depth, but that album was more about getting me back into the game. The last couple of years I have really started asking myself the more difficult questions,” she says. “Why am I here? Who am I serving? What purpose am I fulfilling with my life?”

She decided to meet those queries head-on with a list of personal challenges which would move her even further out of her comfort zone. She logged a revelatory trip into to the desert, dedicated a year to sobriety, and dove head-and-heart-first into songwriting sessions that revealed even more about her creative process and what fueled it.

“I was searching,” Bonnie says, “because I’d lost my sense of meaning. Hell, I even began to doubt my faith.” She even fesses up to a chronic disappointment in the trajectory of her own career – which by any measurable standard has been a damn fine one – with her most recent album drawing rave reviews from not only Rolling Stone, but The New York Times, NPR, Washington Post, and so many others.

“When I was 20, all I wanted was to be a star. I knew I had to let go of those unrealistic goals I set for myself back then because all around me, I saw a world that was also struggling for meaning. I felt like my life in Nashville had been very shallow and I had spent a long time trying to fit in with what I thought people in the music industry wanted me to be. I’d always felt like there was a much higher purpose to my musical message and I wanted to recapture that connection.”

Bishop chose Steve Jordan to produce this project because she had always loved the sound of his drums.

“The lyrics on this album were very deep. I wanted Steve to create beats that would help the music move and groove, make it easy for people to listen to.” One of the most riveting songs on the album, the powerful “Women At The Well,” touches on questions of faith and the corrosive human emotion of shame, but has one of the funkiest beats on the album. “Shame is a bitch. It is one of the things that really trips us up,” she says.

“When you don’t feel like you’re good enough or you don’t think you have what it takes to go after something you really want, usually it’s shame that is actually holding you back. ‘Women at the Well’ is 22

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based on the story in the Bible about the woman who met Jesus while she was drawing water from the well. She was there at the hottest time of day because she was not considered to be a good woman by the townspeople, and she was too ashamed to go to the well in the early morning hours when all the other women would be there. This song speaks for all the girls out who are feeling shamed about something in their past: ‘My name’s Mary and I’m here to say/All my sins have been washed away/I am the one that Jesus saved from Hell/This song’s for the women at the well.’”

“The Walk takes the listener on a journey through my own soul,” she says.

“There’s a whole narrative that I hope my audience can follow, starting with the first song on the album, ‘Love Revolution,’ a tune about pursuing a higher purpose, and ending with ‘Song Don’t Fail Me Now,’ about the power of music to heal. Those are the bookends that tie the record together and they kind of sum up why I’m making another album. This music is my gift to the world. I hope that these songs will make the world a better place, that they will help people wherever they are in their life. That’s why the record ends with those “la-la-las” at the end, because I want people to sing along and know that they aren’t alone. We are all in this things called ‘life’ together.”

Bonnie knows something about battling loneliness. In the middle of the album stands the unvarnished gem, ‘I Don’t Like To Be Alone,’ one of the most gripping songs on the The Walk. It’s the only track Bonnie wrote completely by herself. “I felt very vulnerable right after moving back to Texas,” she says.

“I was spending alot of time alone in my apartment and there was a night where I kind of had this break-

“The journey I took to make this album is personal but it’s really one that we all take. It’s the journey of life. It’s full of ups and downs. There are good times and bad times, times when you’re struggling with the unknown, struggling to understand what it all means. And then there are times when you learn to be thankful and make music amidst the chaos and strife. To me, that’s the hardest part of being human, the not knowing.

These days I hear it as a mid-tempo beat.

It’s the song that never ends, like the heartbeat of humanity. Steve created the soundtrack for that feeling. Every track on this album ties in with the notion that with life, you have to just take it one day at a time. This album is the sound of me learning to be OK with that.”

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Combichrist Perform At The Scout Bar October 13th Combichrist will be returning to The Scout Bar this month on October 13th. Opening for Combichrist will be King 810, A Killer’s Confession, Heartsick, and DJ Whisperwish.

The Joy of Gunz One of the most popular acts in the electro-industrial related “aggrotech” movement, Combichrist is Norwegian Icon of Coil founder Andy LaPlegua when in the studio, augmented by a revolving cast of musicians for their intense live shows.

LaPlegua launched the Atlanta, Georgiabased project in 2003 with the album The Joy of Gunz, released by the German label Out of Line. Two years later, Everybody Hates You became Combichrist’s first release on the American label Metropolis. The “Get Your Body Beat” single was purposefully released on July 6, 2006 (6/6/6) and gave the band their first Billboard chart position with six weeks on the 26 Music News • October 2020

magazine’s dance chart. The track landed on their 2007 album, What the F**k Is Wrong with You People?, a breakthrough effort which also featured the club hits “Electrohead” and “Deathbed.” The year 2008 saw their audience increase thanks to a support slot on Mindless Self Indulgence’s tour of the U.S., along with their Frost EP: Sent to Destroy. An appearance on the Underworld: Rise of the Lycans soundtrack, plus a new album, Today We Are All Demons, kicked off 2009. That year, they toured with Wes Borland’s Black Light Burns and joined Rammstein for a European jaunt, which led to an opening slot on the German industrial metal band’s U.S. tour, including a series of sold-out Madison Square Garden shows. In 2010, they also released the throbbing Making Monsters, which included songs composed by LaPlegua that went on to be featured on No Redemption, the

soundtrack to the video game Devil May Cry. We Love YouCombichrist’s seventh LP, We Love You, was released in 2014. It featured added electronic flourishes reminiscent of dubstep while retaining the hard crunch of their previous releases. Two years later, after announcing their eighth album, LaPlegua performed a solo gig at Complex in Glendale, California. The set list comprised rarities and remixes. Later that year, This Is Where Death Begins arrived. Produced by Oumi Kapila (Filter) and LaPlegua, the effort was followed by an extensive tour. In 2017, Combichrist released the single “Broken: United.” That track reappeared on the band’s ninth album, One Fire, which was released two years later in 2019. A retrospective of sorts, it saw LaPlegua drawing on ideas from across the breadth of the group’s 15-plus-year career.

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The Insane Clown Posee Return To Warehouse Live October 16 The Clown Princes of Rock, The Insane Clown Posee will be returning to Houston this month for a show at Warehouse Live. The band will be in town on October 16th with their “Wicked Clowns From Outer Space 2 Tour.” The show is at 7:00pm, so make sure to get there early and be sure to get your tickets as soon as you can.

The founders of Psychopathic Records and perhaps the most notorious and controversial rap duo in the history of music, ICP rose from being scrubs on the streets of Detroit to becoming bona-fide pop culture icons and Gold and Platinum-selling recording artists. Through sheer hard work and determination, ICP has created a complete entertainment empire, including music, movies, sports entertainment (Juggalo Championship Wrestling), groundbreaking music videos, and one of America’s longestrunning underground music festivals, the Gathering of the Juggalos. Far beyond a rap group, ICP has proven themselves to be a worldwide phenomenon that will never be forgotten.

Part rap group, part societal phenomenon, Insane Clown Posse grew an unlikely cult around their cartoonish and critically loathed horrorcore rap styles. Loosely connected themes of psychopathic clowns, 28 Music News • October 2020

Faygo soda, and the importance of friendship was enough for thousands of die-hard fans to don clown make up and proclaim themselves “juggalos,” part of a community of Insane Clown Posse superfans drawn to their lowestcommon-denominator humor and shockfactor rhymes. Staunchly independent, ICP only had brief and controversy-heavy associations with major labels around the time of their 1997 album The Great Milenko, but spent much of their decades of existence releasing their albums (as well as the music of an extended family of artists) on their own Psychopathic Records label. The group’s grassroots approach resulted in millions of album sales, with a creative and commercial peak happening around the time of their highly conceptual late-’90s/early-2000s output. A loose narrative exposed over the course of several albums — records like 1995’s Riddle Box and 1999’s The Amazing Jeckel Brothers — was presented as different “joker’s cards,” culminating with the spiritual reveal of 2002’s The Wraith: Shangri-La. Down to a duo, ICP were originally formed in 1989 as a hardcore Detroit rap group called Inner City Posse. After combusting in 1991, the only members left, Violent J (born Joseph Bruce) and Shaggy 2 Dope (born Joseph Utsler), slightly altered their

name to reflect the fact that they had been visited by the Carnival Spirit, who ordered them to carry word of the impending apocalypse by touring the nation and releasing six “joker cards” (popularly known as LPs) with successive revelations of the final judgment. The first, Carnival of Carnage, appeared in 1992 on their own Psychopathic Records label. The group became notorious in Detroit’s underground scene, but several tours around the region failed to ignite much more than the rage of community leaders.

After the release of 1994’s The Ringmaster, ICP began to get a bit of attention as a possible follower of cartoon metal bands like GWAR and Green Jelly. Jive Records signed the group and released The Riddle Box in 1995, but the record bombed and ICP returned to the ranks of the indies.

Just one year later, Hollywood Records gambled on the band and spent more than a million dollars while ICP recorded their new album, The Great Milenko. On the day of its release in 1997, however, Hollywood pulled the record, citing obscene lyrics and gruesome content — possibly a move by its owner, Disney, to deflect criticism of its practices by the Southern Baptist Federation.

In a bizarre twist, yet another major label,

Island Records, stepped in to release the album and capitalize on ICP’s notoriety, which continued to increase thanks to several incidents that kept them in the headlines: J was arrested after clubbing an audience member with his microphone in late 1997, and shortly thereafter, the group’s tour bus ran off the road, leaving J with a concussion.

Next, the group and its entourage were involved in a brawl at a Waffle House in Indiana, and both members eventually pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct charges.

All the chaos took its toll, as J suffered a panic attack in April 1998 while on-stage in Minnesota. However, all of the publicity helped expand the group’s cult following to the point where their next album, the 1999 concept record The Amazing Jeckel Brothers, debuted in the Top Five. As evidenced by the numerous different collectible covers for The Amazing Jeckel Brothers, ICP had become a virtual merchandising machine, complete with comic books to flesh out their elaborate Dark Carnival mythology. They also wrote and starred in their own straight-to-video movie, Big Money Hustlas, and made guest appearances at wrestling events. The group spent the summer of 1999 bickering with various tourmates (Coal Chamber in particular) and played at the ill-fated Woodstock ’99. Early in 2000, Shaggy collapsed on-stage, but the cause was deemed to be nothing more than a combination of the flu and low blood sugar; however, while staging a wrestling event several months later, Shaggy fell off a steel cage, breaking his nose and cheekbone. Still, ICP managed

to make it into the studio to record a followup album, and Big Money Hustlas was finally released.

In the 2000, the first Gathering of the Juggalos festival took place in Novi, Michigan. Organized by ICP, the two-day show included live wrestling and performances by ICP, Twiztid, Blaze Ya Dead Homie, and other Psychopathic Records performers. Thousands of juggalos flocked to the event even at its beginnings, and it would grow to become an annual summit for fans of the band and participants in the strange subculture that was the juggalo. By 2009, attendance at the gatherings was in the tens of thousands.

On Halloween 2000, the group issued its sixth album, which apparently did not count (as all the other albums had) as a joker card (in the ICP fantasy world, the sixth joker card was supposed to signal the apocalypse).

Similar to Guns N’ Roses’ Use Your Illusion, the album was released in two completely different, separate versions, titled Bizzar and Bizaar. Finally needing to live up to the years of hype, 2002’s The Wraith: Shangri-La revealed that the hidden message of their music was always to follow God and make it to Heaven. Considering the murder fantasies of “Beverly Kills 50187” and the necrophiliac overtones of “Cemetery Girl,” this may have been a shock to longtime fans.

In August 2004, the band released the sixth and final joker card, Hell’s Pit, in two separate editions; both had the same CD but were packed with different DVDs. Nevertheless, the Dark Carnival wasn’t fully shuttered.

Spring 2005 found ICP hyping a new direction for the mythology, to be revealed with the May release of Calm. The EP also prepped Insane Clown Posse’s devoted fan base for the sixth annual Gathering of the Juggalos that July. Their 2007 effort, The Tempest, found the duo reuniting with producer Mike E. Clark, the man behind the first four joker card releases. Clark stuck around for their 2009 Bang! Pow! Boom! album. That same year, the duo presented a second feature-length film. This time exploring a western motif, Big Money Rustlas featured the clowns in gunslinger garb and was again released outside of theaters.

Featuring Freshness, a two-disc collection of the group’s work with other artists, arrived in 2011. A year later, the conceptual The Mighty Death Pop focused on their detractors and other “certified hoes,” with Clark returning as producer. In 2015, The Marvelous Missing Link (Lost) landed as the first of that year’s two albums, while The Marvelous Missing Link (Found) landed later in the year. In 2017, while recording the next joker card, the duo released a pair of solo albums, with Shaggy 2 Dope’s F.T.F.O.M.F. arriving months before Violent J’s American Life/Lives. In mid-2018, the group announced that their 15th studio album, Fearless Fred Fury, would be released in October of that year, but it was ultimately pushed back until February 2019. An eightsong EP, Flip the Rat, was scheduled for release on the same day.

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RANDOM SHOTS The Benefit for Kat was a huge success at The Backwoods Saloon. Hundreds of people were there to show their support for her. Kat is in need of a Kidney Transplant, and along with that comes a lot of expenses. Fortunately her and Troublemaker’s fans showed up in force. There was a silent action that really helped to bring in some much needed money Performing there were The Skinz, Texas TNT, and Full Steam Ahead (pictured here).

Our prayers go out to Kat and her family and we certainly hope that she will be able to get the much needed surgery she

Bluesman Johnny Nicholas Performed this past month a McGonigel’s Mucky Duck. Johnny was in town on tour in support of his new album release, Mistaken Identity.

In a side note: You can read a story about Johnny and his new album in the new International magazine, Rock And Blues International. Just go to www.rockandbluesinternational.com

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Music News • October 2020

RANDOM SHOTS The people showed up in force for the benefit held for Tommy Skinner at The Acadia Bar and Grill this past month.

Tommy is recovering from a recent Brain Surgery. As you might expect, Tommy lost quite a bit of income while going through all that, not to mention all the additional expenses he racked up, so this all helped. It was great to see all the band out there to support him. There was a silent auction there, as well as many donations being made at the door. Several Bands were on hand there to help out, including Phanton Eye (inset picture) and Shotgun Sally (pictured at right below). On hand to help out was John Janatsch and Kristie Cunningham (pictured below).

Former “Gatemouth” Brown saxophonist Eric Demmer dropped

by Katie’s Bar in Bacliff to jam with the Hugo Jamz Trio this night. This really made for one helluva show.

Eric is just phenomenal on sax, not to mention that Hugo is also one blazing guitarist. This night was certainly a lot of fun.

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