Life handed him Lemonheads… not to mention gigs with Ben Kweller, Albert Hammond, Jr. (The Strokes) and James Taylor along the way.
And through it all, journeyman bassist/guitarist/singer Josh Lattanzi says he soaked up as much of each experience—and style of playing—as he could.
With his latest endeavor, The Candles, Lattanzi is finally ready to step out of the proverbial shadows of high profile projects past and front his own material.
"The band itself is really a melting pot of my musical history, but, yes, it is fun to steer the ship this time around," the New York native says of the band's current tour and its debut disc, Between The Sounds. "There's a lot more pressure when you're the writer, no question. But the process of working out ideas in the studio and watching the band gel on the road is really satisfying, too."
The Candles are currently making the rounds in support of Lemonhead frontman Evan Dando on a mini-trek that includes a Feb. 4 stop at Northampton's famed Iron Horse.
While all of these shows are being billed as Dando solo acoustic outings, according to Lattanzi, it certainly wouldn't take much to make any of them full-band affairs should the headliner so desire.
"The first tour I did in Evan's band, I'll never forget," The Candles' founder says nostalgically. "The first show was in Cork, Ireland, and I had just flown in to meet Evan from Japan. We hadn't rehearsed a note, he just told everyone to show up and make sure they knew certain songs, and that's how we hit the stage! Very Chuck Berry-style."
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Meanwhile, Noho's musical community continues its quest to raise as much money as possible for the victims of the recent Northampton arsons.
By one organizer's accounting, benefit shows held thus far at the Sierra Grille, The Rendezous and the Academy of Music have accumulated more than $13,000 for the cause. Another, a Tom Petty tribute night at the Iron Horse turned arson relief effort as well, threw another $2,771 into the till.
Although yet another arson aid concert originally scheduled for Feb. 4 at the PACE Theater has been canceled, proceeds for the Feb. 6 show at Bishop's Lounge are also earmarked for the Northampton Neighbors Relief Fund. That show will begin at 10 p.m. and features the always altruistic Alchemystics (myspace.com/thealchemystics).
Proving that their benevolence knows no boundaries, some of the region's top acts are also swiftly assembling a slew of Haiti relief concerts as well. The first, dubbed Help for Haiti and taking place at Memorial Hall in Shelburne Falls on Sunday, Feb. 7, pits some of Signature Sounds' biggest recording artists (including Eilen Jewell, Kris Delmhorst, Rani Arbo and Sonya Kitchell) with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tracy Kidder for a unique afternoon of informative sessions and audio entertainment. The following weekend, no less than the likes of Sara Lee Guthrie, Johnny Irion, The Mammals, Tift Merritt and more will lend their considerable talents to A Concert For Loved Ones in Haiti, a multi-act, one-night-only engagement touching down at Pittsfield's Colonial Theatre (thecolonialtheatre.org) on Valentine's Day.
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Last up, they hail from way out west…. Okay, granted, Western Mass., but that hasn't stopped Rose Sinclair and her bandmates in the female-fronted Girl Howdy (girlhowdyband.com) group from crankin' out some of the best twang rock on God's green earth.
"The honky tonk scene in the Northeast is really coming around," the steel guitar six-stringer says of her band's burgeoning popularity in a region not necessarily synonymous with the genre. "Dancers who have been swinging, zydeco-ing and contradancing are now learning the Texas two-step."
To catch the gals locally before the shuffle off to the Texas Steel Guitar Association Jamboree in Dallas next month, mosey on over to the Hometown Hoedown at the Florence VFW this Friday, Feb. 5.
Send correspondence to Nightcrawler, P.O. Box 427, Somers, CT 06071; fax to (860) 698-9373 or e-mail Garycarra@aol.com.
