Pen & Page

Nick Miles, former drummer for the Photo Atlas, will debut his side project, DJ Drum, Saturday at the Railyard.

With a drum set and a laptop, Billings drummer Nick Miles is getting his clicks in on Saturday. Miles, who once again is calling Billings his home, is taking his first foray into public performance following his split from the Denver-based band The Photo Atlas.

“DJ Drum,” as he’s bid himself, will feature Miles on drums playing along to 40+ songs ranging from pop to rap to indie. From Eminem to MGMT, Notorious BIG to Warren G, The Faint to Ratatat remixes, Miles will improvise drum tracks to a slew of well-known pop songs, as well as some of his personal punk and indie favorites.

Miles’s first foray back to public performance is this DJ Drum set, something he describes as new and unique for him. “I’m having fun. This is my side project. The only problem is I don’t have my main project.”
Though the songs Miles will be performing to have existing drum tracks, he said he is not going to replicate the drum tracks.

“It’s going to be a three hour drum solo,” he said.

In the breaks between drum sets, Miles has a playlist of music that he enjoys, ranging from Rancid to Deaths From Above and These Arms are Snakes, to name a few.

“Stuff that I like listening to that is not necessarily pleasing to everyone’s ears,” Miles said. “I am trying to cater to everyone.”

Back in Billings, Miles said it’s nice to be in his hometown. “I have my family. I have friends. Honestly, the pace is so much slower here. I can regain my thoughts and take a step back and think about my life and what I want to do and focus on music.”
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Flowers From Her headlines a CD release show at the Railyard on Saturday, March 5, with opening acts starting at 9 p.m. (photo by Casey Riffe)

After nearly a year in production, Billings-based indie rock band Flowers From Her is releasing its first full-length recording, titled “Catharsis,” on Saturday.

Striving to record an album that honestly represents the band live, Flowers From Her worked with local promoter and recording artist Sean Lynch. The band will self-release “Catharsis,” an album mastered by Doug Van Sloun of Focus Mastering, who’s worked with Saddle Creek artists such as Bright Eyes and Cursive.

The album’s title was selected because of the literal meaning of “catharsis,” the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions.

“It’s how we feel about playing music,” said guitarist Daniel Gillispie said in a recent interview. Drummer Shan Denning added that Flowers’ music is “an emotional release or an outpouring through art or music—a necessary thing more than a hobby” for the group.

“We tried to make the album best represent how we sound live,” said group founder and frontman Addam John Ostlund. “We didn’t want to overproduce.”

Strikingly friendly and familiar, the group’s harmonies bloom throughout “Cartharis,” entwined with Ostlund’s sincere voice and professing lyrics.

The album features a couple new tracks, though it’s majorly composed of songs Flowers From Here has been performing for the better part of last year. The length of time the group took to release the album was caused by a variety of issues, including natural, financial, and circumstantial.

“We’re happy it’s done,” Gillispie said, who during the past year branched out and began a business working as a solo practitioner lawyer. Both Ostlund and bassist Graham Wolfe, who work for the Billings-based t-shirt manufacturing company Future Shirts, are also working on career moves. Both have the opportunity to relocate to Nashville as the company expands.

“Basically we plan to support the shit out of the album and all make it down (to Nashville),” Ostlund said. Though there is no timeline for the move, Ostlund hopes to relocate this summer, and the rest of the band plans to follow.

“For me, it is something I had to think about for a long time, before I could commit,” Gillispie said. “It is a lot to leave behind a life that you built for yourself in one city and pick it up in the next.”
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Ryan Bingham in performance at the Babcock Theatre in Billings on Monday, February 28.

Ryan Bingham may have recently lit up the awards charts, capturing three coveted Hollywood honors including a 2011 Grammy for his song “The Weary Kind,” but in his Billings debut the well-dressed mountain man with the grizzled voice of gold was right at home amongst the PBRs (of the pro bull riding kind and kind that comes in a tallboy), cowboy hats, and bra-chucking women.

Bingham himself was once a rodeo circuit rider, and discussed briefly onstage his fortune to move on without serous injury. Setting off on his own, leaving the drug-addicted parents behind him, Bingham began a music career he couldn’t quite predict. It wasn’t but two years ago Bingham played to a half dozen people at Bozeman’s Filling Station. By noon the day of his Feb. 28 Billings performance, the not-quite-30-something had sold out all 800+ seats at the Babcock Theatre.

The southwestern musician opened with “A Dollar a Day,” moving right into in “Depression” from his third major label and latest release, “Junkie Star.” With The Dead Horses behind him, Bingham rollicked through a howling two-hour set, each song eliciting dance parties and sing-alongs. From his sharp, stinging acoustic to the robust resonations of his hollow-body electric guitar, Bingham’s talents were proven onstage, his gravelly rasp at times channeling Dylan, other times eliciting comparsons to the likes of Steve Earle and Towns Van Zandt. When he donned the harmonica, the ladies swooned, the men hollered.

“We’re getting warmed up now,” Bingham said more than once in the night, urging the crowd to stomp their feet while gingerly hanging a couple of tossed bras on guitarist and mandolin player Corby Schaub.

Binghan’s lyrics describing tattoos and chains, strippers in stilettos, and the likes propelled his rogue, black-hearted persona, but in his sweet onstage grins there was only an air of honesty and hand-forged talent.

To close his set, Bingham brought onto stage opener Liam Gerner, the blonde afro-donning Australian guitarist, who jammed with the Dead Horses to Towns Van Zandt’s “White Freight Liner.”

After wrapping, Bingham received a resounding demand to return to the stage, and his three-song encore included “The Weary Kind,” (co-written with T-Bone Burnett), the song that nabbed Bingham a Grammy, Golden Globe and an Academy Award from the motion picture “Crazy Heart.”

With little promotion, aside from the marquee on the Babcock Theatre in downtown Billings, Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses’ performance on Monday, February 28 has already proved to be hugely successful.

Originally slated for the Railyard, the concert sold out in just less than a week. Due to overwhelming demand, promoters decided to move the Academy Award winning musician’s gig to the Babcock, which holds neart three times more patrons. Less than 100 tickets are left, and with Bingham’s sold out shows in Seattle and Portland this weekend, as well as his sold-out performance in Boise on Tuesday, there’s no doubt Bingham-buzz has reached the west.

Ryan Bingham received his first Academy Award for “The Weary Kind,” his hauntingly beautiful theme song produced with T. Bone Burnett for the acclaimed film Crazy Heart. Following to such high-profile attention, the 29-year-old Texan singer/songwriter has gone about his business, albeit to an much larger fan base. He continues to tour on his grizzled vocals and fierce guitar skills, showcasing a musical career as ripe with promise as a sober Steve Earle.

The show this Monday begins at 9 p.m. with opening support from Liam Gerner. Tickets are available in advance for $18 plus applicable fees at the Rimrock Mall, Ernie November, by phone at 800-514-3849 or online at www.1111presents.com. All tickets purchased for the Railyard show will be honored at the Babcock Theatre.

Against Me! in performance Feb. 6 at the Railyard.

Gainsville, Fla. punk band Against Me! filled the Railyard to capacity on Super Bowl Sunday, and by the time Green Bay was snuggling up with their trophy, Tom Gabel and company were throwing sweat across a house of ecstatic supporters.

The band opened with the anathematic “Pints of Guinness Make You Strong,” a song that conjures up early Against Me!, Gabel’s dripping angst and cowboy punk soundtracking teenage rebellion.

The group played a solid set sprinkled with songs from the new album, “White Crosses.” Gabel didn’t shove the latest release upon the crowd, instead concentrating his efforts on the entire Against Me! discography, bringing songs from “Reinventing Axl Rose” (2002), “As the Eternal Cowboy,” (2003) and “Searching for a Former Clarity” (2005), and “New Wave” (2007).

Instead of proclaiming his anti-establishment ways, Gable spent the evening reminiscing. “Do you remember when you were young / and you wanted to set the world on fire?” The reflective line from “I Was a Teenage Anarchist,” off the newest album spilled across the largely under-age crowd, their elbows swinging against one another.

Against Me! carries a familiar comfort, an air of mystery that surrounds first love with the anticipation of rekindling with a former self. They bring to the stage an assurance that punk can indeed progress forward as the teenage anarchists grow beards and gain wedding bands and make children.

The group returned for an encore, Gable addressing the crowd: “It’s too fucking cold to stay away,” he proclaimed before diving into three songs and closing with “We Laugh At Danger (And Break All the Rules).”

Against Me! returns to Billings Sunday, February 6.

As the temperatures in Billings drop to negative double digits, Andrew Seward steps outside a San Francisco venue to delightful weather. Before that evening’s performance with his band Against Me!, Seward took a few minutes to chat about the group’s upcoming Billings show, to be held on Super Bowl Sunday.

Bassist for Against Me!, Seward said he’s ready for Montana’s frigid temperatures and is looking forward to returning to Big Sky Country. “I’m not a claustrophobic person, but I never could see myself living in New York. I like having wide openness, and you have plenty of that,” he said.

Touring in support of the newly released “White Crosses,” Against Me! began the 2011 tour in their hometown of Gainseville, Fla. From Billings they’re headed to the Midwest, winding their tour down in some of the country’s less-temperate zones.

Seward is used to a mild climate. “I love living in Florida,” he said. “The weather is super nice, it’s cheap to live there, great music scene, lots of great bars and restaurants, and you can pretty much ride your bike anywhere.”

Seward recalls the group’s last performance in Billings during the summer of 2007 on the heels of their major label debut, “New Wave.” He’s played with Against Me! since 2002, and said it’s tough to pinpoint the group’s evolutions in sound and ideology.

Immersed in the daily business of performing and maintaining a band, Seward said such changes are natural and progressive.

“You don’t see completely an evident change. You don’t wake up and go, ‘We’re different now.’” Seward describes the evolution as a progression of bettering their craft, including instrumentation, vocals, and taking their time recording. “It’s been completely natural, and it’s how we’ve grown as people.”

Against Me! has modest roots, started as an acoustic solo act by lead singer Tom Gabel, who at age 17 began playing shows around Gainesville.

A decade vested in the political punk scene, Against Me! gained increased attention when they left their long-time punk label Fat Wreck Chords to sign with major label Sire Records, discovering that even Against Me! loyalists can find fault in their formerly independent darlings.

“We always expect backlash, no matter what we do, but we also own our decisions,” Seward said. “I am nothing but grateful that people are so passionate about loving us or hating us. It’s more interesting than indifference.”

Though some have vilified the group, Seward said they are approachable and kind to their fans. “The best thing about us—we’re very honest people. If you come up to talk to us and you’re nice, we’re going to be nice back to you.”

The approachability of the members of Against Me! comes through in their music, as does their fervor. From their musical beginnings—a raw, edgy, unpolished sound—the group has evolved while always retaining a sense of urgency and excitement that attracted Seward to the band.

“I’ve heard a bunch of great bands,” Seward said. “There’s just this energy that this band possesses—this will to just fucking do this and to do it to the best of your ability that attracts me to it. There’s nothing half-assed.”

The band released “White Crosses,” their fifth studio album, in June 2010, again produced by Butch Vig. Alan Moulder (Smashing Pumpkins, NIN) did the album’s mixing.
“White Crosses” is ripe with catchy folk-inspired punk ballads and opens with the title track, establishing a common theme of skepticism, doubt and symbolism throughout.

The album single “I was a Teenage Anarchist” follows, featuring a sonic atmosphere fit for mainstream radio. Gabel’s distinct and engaging vocal style poses questions throughout the album. “Do you remember / when you were young / and you wanted to set the world on fire?” he sings in “I was a Teenage Anarchist.”

“We never want to make the same record; that’s boring to us,” Seward said. “We worked with Butch Vig again, but he switched up some of his stylings for this album. He pushed us more to think outside the box. This is different from all the other records. It’s good different. It needs to be different.”

The group has cycled through a few drummers of late, including George Rebelo (of Hot Water Music), who played on “White Crosses.” Currently the band is touring with drummer Jay Weinberg (Madball, The E Street Band). Seward insists it’s nothing like the plot of “This is Spinal Tap,” where drummers mysteriously die throughout.

“This whole tour, every song has been going over great, old or new. I think people can see how much we actually enjoy what we’re doing and that’s the best trade-off.”

Seward isn’t worried about the show being on Super Bowl Sunday. “(The game) will be over by then,” he said. “Everyone’s going to be passed out.” He’s rooting for the Packers because Vig is a “die-hard Packers fan. Vig, who was raised in Wisconsin, even has a song he composed called “Go Pack Go” that is played at Lambeau Field.

“So…go Pack, go!” Seward said.

Catch Against Me! in performance with opening support from Cheap Girls and Fences Sunday at the Railyard. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the show starts at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets for the all-ages performance are priced at $15 and available at Rimrock Mall, Ernie November, by phone at 800-514-3849 or online at www.1111presents.com.

Wovenhand frontman David Eugene Edwards (photo by Mark Holthusen)

Fronted by David Eugene Edwards, Denver group Wovenhand appears at the Railyard on Monday.

The group is touring in support of their seventh studio release, The Threshingfloor, an American folk music album with dark undercurrents throughout. The album sounds like something that could come leaking out of Ian Curtis’ basement, while at the same time could have been produced across the western plains in the 1800s.

Edwards formed Wovenhand in 2001 after disbanding his former band, 16 Horsepower. Wovenhand is his main vehicle for music, though he doesn’t describe the formation as a band.

“I don’t call it a solo project, either,” Edwards explained. “The people change, and we create music in many different forms.” A self-taught musician, Edwards began playing drums at age 9, and picked up guitar, banjo, piano and other instruments afterward.

“Just basically any instrument that I liked like the sound of I would try and make myself happy with the sounds. I don’t necessarily know how to play it. I do it to my own satisfaction.

Of the Rocky Mountain west, Edwards said the environment certainly influences his music. I don’t think there is any way it cannot,” he said. “All my history and learning and what I know of the world came from here. The landscape, the people, family—it is a major influence on what I do.”

Released in the summer on Sounds Familyre Records, The Threshingfloor is themed around spiritual and global influences inspired by Edwards travels and his investment in different forms of traditional and folk music.

“Every country has their types of music. I have always been interested in that and the commonalities and difference between them all,” Edwards said. From African rhythms to native America song, as well as Scandinavian and Celtic influences, Edwards melds these various sounds together into a brooding collection of folk-inspired tunes.

Wovenhand—and before that 16 Horsepower—has a strong European following, and Edwards has spent a large amount of time overseas touring.

“Just after our first album came out with 16 Horsepower the interest was strong for us to come play,” Edwards explained. “We toured America quite extensively, but it didn’t quite click. We do have fans here, but have continued to play overseas and our fan base continues to grow.”

Opening for Wovenhand for this tour is Alternative Tentacles’ recording artists Git Some. The groups perform Monday, Jan. 17 at the Railyard, starting at 7 p.m.

Lead singer for Against Me Tom Gabel in the group's 2007 performance at Yellowstone Valley Brewing Co.

Gainesville, Florida-based punk rock band Against Me! returns to Billings on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 6, performing at the Railyard. The group appeared in Billings twice before, most recently in 2007 on the heels of their major label debut, New Wave.

Against Me! has modest roots, started as an acoustic solo act by lead singer Tom Gabel, who at age 17 began playing shows around Gainesville.

A decade vested in the political punk scene, Against Me! was propelled from cult punk band to national buzz-worthy stars when they left their long-time punk label home, Fat Wreck Chords, for major label Sire Records to release New Wave.

With sugar-coated intensity Against Me! dropped 10 danceable protest-tunes, uncluttered by glam and overproduction. The group followed up their major release with White Crosses in May 2010, following a similar formula.

The band again collaborated with acclaimed producer Butch Vig (Nirvana’s “Nevermind” and Green Day’s “21st Century Breakdown” are among his high-profile work) to produce “White Crosses.”

The album is ripe with catchy folk-inspired punk ballads and opens with the title track “White Crosses,” establishing a common theme of skepticism, doubt and symbolism throughout. The album single “I was a Teenage Anarchist” follows, featuring a sonic atmosphere fit for mainstream radio.

Gabel’s distinct and engaging vocal style poses questions throughout, as in “High Pressure Low,” where Gable doubts a future and asks, “What is real, what is fiction?”

Just as Against Me! ended the previous album, the final song is a slight departure from the rest of the album. Though “Bamboo Bones” is much more rollicking than “Ocean,” it retains the standout melodic intensity and ascending melody.

Notable changes to the band include the addition of drummer George Rebelo (formerly of Hot Water Music).

The group performs Billings on Super Bowl Sunday at the Railyard, and doors for the performance open at 6:30 p.m. Of drawing a crowd of more than 400 during their last appearance at Yellowstone Valley Brewing Co., concert promoter Sean Lynch advised to get tickets for the Feb. 6 performance in advance, as the Railyard holds fewer people. Tickets are available at Ernie November, Rimrock Mall, online at 1111presents.com or by phone at 800-514-ETIX.

Pen and Paige celebrates two years of music blogs in 2010, and I thank you for your support, for your diligence, and for your dedication to live music and culture in the west. As always, stay tuned—2011 shows great promise.

Seattle band Minus the Bear in performance in Billings on April 20, 2010.

Best concerts (in-town): Minus the Bear: When the five-piece from Seattle, Washington played Billings on April 19, it was at the smallest venue of their tour and a rare moment of intimacy with the band. They performed a set of new tunes yet to be heard by many of their fans.

The Dead Weather is performance at the Babcock Theatre in Billings on July 27.

The Dead Weather: Frontwoman Alison Mosshart stole the show from Jack White—not an easy feat. A Joan Jet meets Karen O fembot, Mosshart is a bionic force live. The back-bending superhero of screeching feminine prowess shook off an on-stage tackle by a fanatic fan only to climb atop the venue speakers and sing upside-down.

Russian Circles bassist Brian Cook at the helm of keyboards during a July 6 performance in Billings.

Russian Circles: When the Chicago three-piece closed with the epic “Geneva,” from the release of the same name, the sound wall was so thick you could almost stand against it.

Biggest disappointment: Cancellation of California post-hardcore band Thrice and Atlanta, Georgia indie rock five-piece Manchester Orchestra’s April performance in Billings. Thrice Lead singer and guitarist Dustin Kensrue made the decision to cancel the tour and be with family after discovering his father had an aggressive brain tumor.

NOFX frontman Fat Mike in performance in Billings April 23.

Most overrated: In their April performance at the Shine Auditorium, notoriously snarky and unabashedly crass punk rockers NOFX brought a slew of 90s memorabilia. Yet, the band that was so relevant when punk rock was rising somehow didn’t retain their relevance. Their race jokes seemed childish, their “black house” reference inappropriate, and though their songs are so achingly familiar, the stage banter took away most of the joy of hearing these old favorites. NOFX closed the show by saying, “We’ll see you all when you move to a bigger city,” and as they always do, didn’t return for an encore.

Charlie Daniels in performance at the Alberta Bair Theater June 25 as part of the Wild West Soirée.

Biggest blindside: When Charlie Daniels blew a cloud of dust from his fiddle into the air and yelled, “That’s how it’s done,” after ripping through “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” I wasn’t thinking what an amazing fiddle player he was, rather what an audacious, dangerous redneck he was. The bearded 71-year-old no doubt plays the meanest fiddle I’ve ever witnessed, but his views on citizens taking justice into their own hands and “pulling the trigger” was more than off-putting. “They call me a redneck,” Daniels said. “I always thought it was a compliment.” Not so, sir. Rather, a provincial, yokel, reactionary, yahoo, hick, and/or hayseed, a sunburned political reactionary responsible for fear mongering that should stick to novelty.

A young girl on the shoulders of an adult watches John Mellencamp at Dehler Park in Billings on Aug. 11.

Busiest week: Mid-August is the frontrunner of busiest week for live music. When Brett Michaels can be spotted outside of the Laurel WalMart, Bob Dylan and John Mellencamp just rolled through Billings, the Scorpions can be seen at MontanaFair and Montana Avenue is closed for Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi, it’s been a good week of music.

Favorite quote (local): Steve Brown, of returning to Billings in early 2010 after living in California: “It’s smiling faces that you see, and it’s your best friends and even your enemies in the crowd. We all get together for this short amount of time and lay our weapons down and unite and have a good time. I believe there is something inherently powerful in people gathering in unity.”

Favorite quote (out-of-towner): On a road trip across the country during his latest comedy tour, New York comedian Lewis Black said he’d always wanted to drive through this area. “I kind of understand the need for solitude, but there’s a point where you’re insane…The fact that you live here in the winter…maybe you ought to seek psychiatric help.”

Shortest appearance: Kevin Smith clocked just under an hour appearance during his “live Smodcast” in May, but the crowd had few pauses between laughs. His lowest common denominator humor paired with his embrace of new media, excessive Tweeting and gritty (sometimes introspective) podcasts had Smith’s fans lined up outside the Babcock well before the show began. They circled his tour bus following the live “Smodcast” for a chance to ask their favorite director a question, get an autograph, or just be around the man whose livelihood depends not only on the foulness of his mouth, but the directorial vision that landed him as one of the most successful independent directors of all time.

Most inspiring: In stark contrast, Henry Rollins gave audience members their asses back after nearly three hours of talk during his May 19 appearance at the Babcock. A self-described “spasticité” who lives in a “utilitarian hovel” in L.A., Henry Rollins ventured west to discuss politics, travel, humanitarianism, and issues of discrimination (packaged with a bit of self-deprecating humor) to a crowd of nearly 400. With no tools, no gadgets, not even a notebook, the extensive vocabulary Rollins possesses is stunning, his vast knowledge even more imposing. That he’s never been to college seems a mockery to the institution, yet Rollins is highly supportive of the pursuit of higher knowledge. Calling illiteracy our “national shame,” Rollins spoke utopian ideas of ceasing war and spending money on the homefront, investing in young people’s educations. “More is required of you in these times,” Rollins said, prodding the audience to consider, in this new century, their obligation to a personal utopia by eliminating hatred and discrimination, and to say, “Not in my century.”

Joe Queer high fives members of the audience following his band's performance June 7 in Billings.

Not one for political correctness, Joe Queer returns to Billings Sunday, bringing with him his vulgar mouth and the resurgence of 80s pop punk with his band, The Queers.

The Queers, which performed Billings in June 2009, will appear at the Railyard with opening support from Kepi Ghoulie (bassist/vocalist of The Groovie Ghoulies), and Canadian punk rockers The Riptides, both on tour with the Queers. Wyoming’s female-fronted punk group The Front opens the performance.

Formed in New Hampshire in 1982, The Queers crassly punked their way through the 80s before signing to Lookout! Records (at the recommendation of Ben Weasel, who produced their first Lookout! release, Love Songs for the Retarded).  In the style of the Ramones, with catchy bubblegum punk to propel them to the populous, The Queers unleashed a slew of comically offenssive material (“No Tit,” “Teenage Bonehead,” “I Can’t Stop Farting,” and such).

Wyoming punk rockers The Front opened the Queers June 7 show at Yellowstone Valley Brewing Co.

Wyoming’s The Front opened the Queer’s last Billings performance, and host the band in their hometown, Casper, Wyo., the following night. Fronted by punk rock cinderella Lauren Bezold, The Front is a onslaught of furious melodies and politically charged lyrics. The combination of the anti-P.C. 80s revivalists and The Front may seem odd, yet Bezold has good humor about her for the show. “Excited to see Joe and Co. and give him shit for that ‘Tit Fuck’ song he wrote,” she posted on her Facebook.

The Billings show begins at 6 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 5. Tickets cost $10 and are available at usual ticket outlets and at the door.