Moving Units (Photo by Jeffrey Jacquin)
Blake Miller of Moving Units is taking his L.A. dance-punk band on the road with a very specific concept. On their current tour, Moving Units present the songs of Joy Division, and they will pay homage to the legendary post-punk Mancunians with a stop at DC9 on Wednesday, March 1.
Andrew Savage of Parquet Courts sings at 9:30 Club on Feb. 13, 2017. (Photo by Mickey McCarter)
Andrew Savage zipped into DC from Los Angeles, fresh from the Grammy Awards, where he was nominated for Best Recording Package for his band Parquet Courts’ fifth album, Human Performance.
The artist for David Bowie’s Blackstar album took that award, but Andrew was upbeat about it. “I won,” he quipped to a large crowd at 9:30 Club on Monday. “The director of The Recording Academy told us we were all winners. That sounds pretty official to me.”
Solar Fake performs at Ivy City Tavern on Feb. 7, 2017. (Photo by Paivi)
Sven Friedrich previously helmed musical projects Zeraphine and Dreadful Shadows. Since 2007, he’s been recording as Solar Fake. Last week, Solar Fake visited DC to open for Aesthetic Perfection at Ivy City Tavern.
Alter Bridge perform at The Fillmore Silver Spring on Feb. 10, 2017. (Photo by Paivi)
Heavy metal band Alter Bridge released their fifth full-length album The Last Hero via Napalm Records last fall, and they stopped at The Fillmore Silver Spring on Friday on a tour to promote the album.
Lol Tolhurst (Photo by Scott Witter)
Lol Tolhurst is a founding member of The Cure, and he played keyboards with Robert Smith and company until his departure from the band in 1989. Last fall, Lol published Cured: The Tale of Two Imaginary Boys, a memoir of his life as a musician.
The book brings him to DC next week for special appearances at Songbyrd Music House and Record Cafe (2477 18th St. NW, DC) on Tuesday, Feb. 21, and Little Miss Whiskey’s Golden Dollar (1104 H St. NE, DC) on Wednesday, Feb. 22.
Modern English (Photo courtesy Kartel Music Group)
March 28 Update: Modern English have canceled this show due to the sudden hospitalization of their guitarist Gary McDowell.
From the band: “All of us, Gary especially, are very sorry to have to announce the sudden cancellation of our Take Me To The Trees US and Canadian dates. This is due to a serious illness and urgent surgery required for our guitarist Gary. Obviously we are very upset and disappointed to have to come to this decision, but without Gary we can’t play any concerts. After recovering from surgery, Gary will be flown home to England for further treatment.”
Legendary post-punk rockers Modern English are set to release their first album by original members of the band in 30 years. The band successfully funded the album via PledgeMusic.
Modern Baseball (Photo courtesy Brixton Agency)
Feb. 21 Update: Unfortunately, Modern Baseball have canceled their upcoming tour.
From Jake Ewald on Facebook:
Hey everybody, Jake here. As much as it pains me to say this, we have decided to cancel our upcoming U.S. tour dates and festival appearances to take a break from Modern Baseball for a little while. If you already bought tickets for the tour, refunds will be available at point of purchase.
Over the past few months the band has become an immense source of anxiety for me, and it wasn’t until I opened up to Sean, Ian, and Brendan about it that we realized we were all feeling the same way. The project we started as a source of joy and positive expression had become something that was slowly eating away at our mental health and our friendships. We have been championing the importance of mental health for a while now, and we recently realized that it would be wrong for us to ignore our own health any longer. Please know that we don’t take a tour cancellation lightly, and under any other circumstances we would not even consider it an option, but in this instance we have to put our health and friendships first. You’ve supported us unconditionally throughout this crazy ride and we could never thank you enough. We never really learned how to do this whole “rock band” thing the right way, but you kept coming to the shows and talking to us and assuring us that we’d figure it out sooner or later. We could not have done any of this without you. Be honest with those you love and don’t be afraid to lean on them when you need to. Odds are they’ll need to lean on you pretty soon too.
With all the love in the world,
MOBO
Philadelphia emo quartet Modern Baseball released their third album last year, and they have been touring quite a lot. In March, they launch a new US tour that includes a stop at 9:30 Club on March 21.
Book of Love perform at U Street Music Hall on Feb. 11, 2017. (Photo by Mickey McCarter)
Ted Ottaviano reminded us of the wonders of his band Book of Love’s second album, Lullaby, in a very full show at U Street Music Hall on Saturday.
The Wood Brothers (Photo by Alysse Gafkjen)
The Wood Brothers rocked 9:30 Club with a performance that left the crowd ecstatic on Saturday.
Allah-Las (Photo by Laura-Lynn Petrick)
Allah-Las will take you to sunny California at the drop of a record needle. The garage rockers famously formed a band when three of its four members were working at Amoeba Music, and their articulate surf-influenced music certainly sounds like it was made by musicians who absorbed as much of their surroundings as possible.
