Almost a decade in, and guitarist Jason Salois freely admits that his band, Nol*Edge, is still navigating its way along the sizeable learning curve that is the biz, so to speak. But this time—for the first time, he notes—it sure is starting to feel like the proverbial home stretch.
"Musically, we get it, without a doubt," he says. "Industry-wise? We're still getting there, but at least now we know what it's all about and what we have to do."
Next on Salois and company's to-do list is to rock out a June 27 engagement at Chicopee's Maximum Capacity on a bill rounded out with fellow decibel-deliverers Nosho, Anti-Love, Intolerance, A Day In A Light and Nixon's Spirit.
After that, however, Salois says that the band will not resurface on the local live circuit until late September. And this ain't no summer vacation. Rather, he goes on to explain, the downtime will serve as a chance to put the finishing touches on what he believes to be Nol*Edge's strongest effort to date, a new disc titled Beneath The Rising Sun, and then gear up for a massive autumn tour.
"We just finished tracking the new disc, and it's soooo tight… just built on a big, open sound," he says. "It's easily the best product we will have ever put out, and so also our best chance to really make a go of it."
Look for the Rising Sun to settle on local record store shelves mid-September, and a CD release party proper to take place Sept. 25.
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In other news, Valley fixture Dave La Valley (Susan Angeletti, Dead Reckoning) reports that he wasn't at all rattled—or deterred—by the lengthy, often exhausting auditioning process that his current project, Rattlebone, underwent in its quest to find a suitable second six-stringer.
"We went out and actually played a handful of shows in the interim as a three-piece," he explains. "And don't get me wrong, there are a lot of amazing players out there. But many were from the more traditional blues background, and as our name indicates, we're looking to rattle some bones with a much louder, harder brand of blues rock."
La Valley and fellow founders Mike Houle (drums, vocals) and Duane Woody (bass, vocals) believe they have finally found a candidate to fit the bill in one Chris Manekas of Agawam. The fledgling foursome will make its official debut at Crossroads in Palmer this Saturday, June 27. For more info, kindly point your browser to Myspace.com/rattlebone5.
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Moving to national news, many is the musical entity that believes it was doing something before it was cool. But considering that the New York Dolls were legitimately donning makeup before Kiss, the legendary glam-punksters can certainly boast footnotes of distinction in the annals of rock history.
In between passing around lipstick and mascara cases like joints backstage, the Dolls lived so hard that only two of their original members—singer David Johansen and guitarist Syl Sylvain—remain above ground.
The sole survivors will get Dolled up once again this Thursday, June 25 (with a new supporting cast) for a special Pearl Street show that also features Black Joe Lewis and Honeybears in support.
By the way, if lead singer Johansen's mug looks familiar to those who may not be familiar with the band, that's probably because in the '80s, the singer reinvented himself as Uber-lounge-crooner Buster Poindexter, landing himself a juicy role in the Bill Murray Christmas classic Scrooged and scoring a perennial party hit with "Hot, Hot Hot" in the process.
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Last up, the Springfield Business Improvement District (springfielddowntown.com) has announced the lineup for its 2009 CityBlock Concert Series at Stearns Square. American metal-meisters L.A. Guns kick things off July 2, with Jeff Pitchell & Texas Flood (July 9), Blackfoot (July 16), Little River Band (July 23) and FAT (July 30) rounding out the month. All shows are free and begin at 7:30 p.m.
Send correspondence to: Nightcrawler, P.O. Box 427, Somers, CT 06071; fax to: (860) 698-9373 or email: Garycarra@aol.com.
