Veteran valley alt-rockers Spouse may not officially be releasing their Nine Mile Records debut until spring, but as founding member Jose Ayerve reports, the band is far from letting that little chronological fact preclude them from logging some serious touring miles with one of their hottest labelmates.
"We're hooking up with Canada's Parlour Steps for a mini-tour that will go through Mass., Maine and New York," Ayerve explains of the mini-tour slated to touch down at Noho's Basement Jan. 23. "I'm really looking forward to it and just love the last album… I haven't heard the new one yet, but hear good things."
In stark contrast, nearly 25,000 of our neighbors to the north have at least heard—and downloaded—one Parlour Steps track in particular called "As The World Turned Out." The staggering statistic comes courtesy of iTunes Canada selecting that tune as its official "Song Of The Week" earlier this month. For more info, visit iheg.com.
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Speaking of logging miles, Beantown's Eric Schmider and his The One Smith band will have a substantial commute on Saturday, Jan. 23 when they come to Belchertown's Black Moon Music Lounge (myspace.com/blackmoonjazz). Considering that Schmider is a licenced race car driver who "got the bug" back at the age of 15 courtesy of his neighbors, famous racing family the Unsers, however, it's a safe bet that show will go off at its 9 p.m. scheduled start time regardless of traffic conditions. Tix are $5.
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In other news… Springfield's multi-floored Skyplex Entertainment Complex (skyplex.us) rounds out its trial run of 18-plus admissions Jan. 21 and again on Thursday, Jan. 28. The City of Springfield had clamped down on such affairs early last year in reaction to a melee in Stearns Square involving several Hartford men in which shots were fired and a bystander injured.
Based on a promise to beef up security with scanners, metal detectors and additional off-duty police officers, however, the mayor's office issued the popular downtown nightclub a special permit to conduct five under-21 events.
"We kicked it off New Year's Eve and have continued college nights each Thursday, and it's been a great success on every level," says club co-owner Mike Barasso. "The venue is filled to capacity, and we have already hired 20 new people to accommodate the influx of business and [are] looking to add at least 10 more."
Although no definitive plans have been submitted with regard to future 18-plus events at the Skyplex, Barasso suspected that he and co-owner Steven Stein would most likely apply for extensions in one-month intervals.
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Last up, since the Crawler is a sucker for happy endings… the Happy Valley Showdown (myspace.com/indybattle) enters week four at The Elevens this Sunday, Jan. 24 with Los Ritual, Two Tents, Graph, Doug Ratner and The Watchmen and The Matt Silberstein Band entering the sonic fray.
If some or all of those names don't sound familiar, by the way… well, that's precisely the point, as Showdown creator Mark Sheehan explains.
"I hope this batch of 30 new, almost totally unheard bands will bring some fresh air into the scene," Sheehan says. "When I started the first showdown three years ago, there weren't enough days in the week to book all the bands that wanted to play. Now it seems hard to fill the clubs I book with bands and even harder for the bands to bring crowds… which is all strange as, historically, depressive times spark creativity."
While Sheehan's Showdown does admittedly utilize the "battle" format, he is quick to note that the purpose of his series is much more rooted in showcasing local talent than actual competition. As evidence of the claim, he says that his goal is to ensure that every participant leaves with some sort of parting gift. That said, among the larger prizes secured for the final winners are recording time at Bank Row studios, mastering courtesy of Slaughter House Studios and and numerous certificates to area eateries.
Send correspondence to Nightcrawler, P.O. Box 427, Somers, CT 06071; fax to (860) 698-9373 or e-mail Garycarra@aol.com.
