On Stage (Bonus): See Heather Maloney in a whole new light

By Denny Dyroff, Staff Writer, The Times

Area music fans – get ready to see Heather Maloney in a whole new light.

Maloney is a singer-songwriter-rocker from western Massachusetts who has released several critically-acclaimed albums – the most recent being “Making Me Break” in 2015.

She has been recording and playing her music live since 2009 and has had numerous performances in this area.

On April 23, Maloney will headline a show at Kennett Flash (102 Sycamore Alley, Kennett Square, 484-732-8295, http://www.kennettflash.org).

Maloney is coming to Kennett Flash with her “ProjecTour,” which is billed as “the audio-visual-show-that-determines-which-new-songs-will-be-on-my-next-record.”

The tour looks at something that has become a dying art form.

“This tour is an ode to the album insert,” said Maloney, during a phone interview Tuesday from her home in Northampton, Massachusetts.

“We’re now in an era where CDs are becoming obsolete and downloading becoming less popular because of streaming. I found myself thinking more-and-more about how I used to buy records.

“I’d buy a record and then go to my room and listen to it front-to-back while reading the insert and looking at the art. Back then, we were involved in the whole experience.

“I would always read the lyrics. That little ritual I had was what made me fall in love with music. I missed that ritual and wanted to pay homage to it.

“One thing that hasn’t gone away with musicians is the live show. I don’t think anything is ever going to replace the live experience.”

Maloney decided to combine the two – appreciation of inserts and art and the experience of live music.

“I created ProjecTour to honor this dying ritual with a live representation of it,” said Maloney. “I figured I’d project it onstage and see what happens.

“Lyrics and artwork are projected behind me as I play a set of almost entirely new music. It’s a live version of the insert.”

There is another non-mainstream aspect of ProjecTour.

“I invite people into the record-making process,” said Maloney.

“Anyone who attends a ProjecTour show across the country has the opportunity to vote on which three songs they’d like me to include on the next full-length record.

“The show culminates with a vote on which songs the people want to hear on the record. I’m getting immediate feedback. I’m making this record with my audience.

“With regard to the artwork and inserts, I do feel it is our job to show what is being lost. Having a visual element to the show is making people more interested.

“We have great projections including a set of animated slides with lyrics – going through the pages and letting people digest the material. We also have wonderful little coloring books.

“When this tour is over, I’ll get in the studio to make a record. When the record comes out, I’ll go on the road again with a very polished version of this project.”

Maloney’s involvement with music goes back to her student days.

“I studied jazz vocals so I’m also a very percussive singer,” said Maloney. “I studied music at a college in North Jersey and focused on classical operatic vocals. Then, I left everything music behind and lived at a meditation center in western Massachusetts for three years. I was a vegetarian cook there.”

“When I’m writing songs, I start with an analogy on the modern world and then take it deeper. The lyrics are written as signposts. When I’m writing, voice is the first instrument and piano the second instrument. Piano is where I started writing songs.

“The songs come in little waves. I have a lot of influences. I listened to a lot of Indian music, classical opera, kirtan and jazz improvisation. I write a few new songs every month.”

Maloney frequently plays with her band but not on these shows.

“It’s a duo set,” said Maloney. “I have an incredible guitarist – Ryan Hommel. He’s also a great harmony singer. We’re doing mostly new songs in these shows now.”

Video link for Heather Maloney – https://youtu.be/UUTa51DX5_A.

The show at Kennett Flash, which has TJ Smith and the Wild North as the opening act, will start at 7 p.m. Tickets are $15.

Also on April 23, there will be two shows featuring bands and music from warm climates – Lakou Mizik, one of Haiti’s top bands, and Ozomatli, an L.A. band with Mexican roots.

Lakou Mizik, which will be performing at the Calvary Center

(801 South 48th Street, Philadelphia, www.crossroadsconcerts.org), is a multigenerational collective of Haitian musicians formed in the aftermath of the devastating 2010 earthquake.

The group includes elder legends and rising young talents who are united in a mission to honor the healing spirit of their collective culture.

“We started Lakou Mizik after the earthquake,” said guitarist/vocalist Steeve Valcourt, during a phone interview last week. “Zach Niles came to Haiti to find old songs and bring them back to life.”

The idea for the band was hatched in 2010 on a hot November night in Port-au-Prince. Haiti was still reeling from the earthquake, a cholera epidemic was raging and a political crisis filled the streets with enough tire-burning ferocity to close the international airport.

Steeve Valcourt, a guitarist and singer whose father is one of the country’s iconic musicians, singer Jonas Attis and American producer Zach Niles met in Valcourt’s muggy basement studio and agreed that Haiti’s music and culture could serve as an antidote to the flood of negativity.

“They were bringing people to shelters after the earthquake,” said Valcourt. “We wanted to figure out a way to help them through music. We went to the camps every day.”

Niles, who 10 years previously was part of the documentary film and management team that introduced Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars to the world, had traveled to Haiti to explore ways in which music could help play a role in recovery and empowering social change.

According to Niles, “I always wanted to use music and story of musicians to create a deeper connection to the country than either the one-note negative press or the falsified hope-and-inspiration NGO stories that get pushed to the public.”

They assembled an exceptional lineup — a powerhouse collective of singers, rara horn players, drummers, guitarists and even an accordionist.

“Zach and I both were interested in bringing old songs back to life,” said Valcourt. “The first song we did was just a project. After that, people liked the song. We started with one performance six years ago and it’s grown from there”

Over the next few years, the band honed its electrifying live show, presenting hours long concerts that blended the soulful spirit of a church revival, the social engagement of a political rally and the trance-inducing intoxication of a vodoun (voodoo) ritual.

Finally, after building a devoted local fan base, the band headed to the Artists Institute in Jacmel, home to a beautiful new recording studio. The resulting album, “Wa Di Yo,” reflects the African, French, Caribbean and U.S. influences that collide in Haiti.

The end result is a soulful stew of deeply danceable grooves that feels strangely familiar yet intensely new — and 100% Haitian.

“We wanted to really bring out the cultural part of Haiti,” said Valcourt. “We wanted to show Haiti from its early days. Some of the songs are 40-50 years old. And, the voudon tradition goes all the way back to Africa.”

The nine members of Lakou Mizik range in age from late sixties to early twenties and come from across Haiti’s musical, social, religious, and geographic spectrum.

Video link for Lakjou Mizik – https://youtu.be/assgrxO3Fl8.

The show at Calvary Center will start at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20.

Ozomatli will be in Philly on Sunday night at Union Transfer (1026 Spring Garden Street, Philadelphia, 215-232-2100, www.utphilly.com) — sharing the bill with Squirrel Nut Zippers on the band’s “United Together Tour.”

Ozomatli features Wil-Dog Abers: Bass, Background Vocals; Ulises Bella: Saxophone, Clarinet; Requinto Jarocho, Keyboard, Melodica, Background Vocals; Raúl “El Bully” Pacheco: Guitar, Tres, Jarana, Lead Vocals; Justin “El Niño Porée: Percussion, Rap Vocals; Asdru Sierra: Trumpet, Keyboard, Lead Vocals; and Jiro Yamaguchi: Drums, Tabla, Percussion, Background Vocals.

The lively band from Los Angeles has its own musical style that spans multiple genres — urban, hip-hop, rock, salsa, jazz, rap, funk, classic to modern Latino and a variety of other world styles.

Since its inception in 1995, innovation and creativity have defined Ozomatli. The band has defined how to represent L.A.’s eclectic culture through music that appeals to the local community and the world beyond.

“We’re 22 years old,” said Bella, during a phone interview Wednesday from a tour stop in Burlington, Vermont. “Our birthday was April 1.”

Ozomatli may have April Fool’s Day as its birthday but the versatile band has never been anybody’s fool.

“We started with our first live shows at a community center for youth and arts in downtown L.A.,” said Bella. “Every weekend, we’d play shows as a benefit.”

Ozomatli, which has the nickname “Dioses del Baile,” or “Gods of Dance,” is also known for advocating for farm-workers’ rights and immigration reform. The band has performed in various countries all over the world, including China, Tunisia, Jordan, and Burma.

The group released its self-titled debut album in 1998 and followed with “Embrace the Chaos” (2001), “Street Signs” (2004), “Don’t Mess with the Dragon”, (2007), “Fire Away (2010), “Ozomatli Presents Ozokidz (2012) and “Place in the Sun (2014).

Ozomatli’s new album “NON-STOP: Mexico to Jamaica” is set for a May 5 release.

The music on the album has the feel of a casual Mexican-American gathering – under the stars on a beach in Negril, Jamaica.

There is a good reason for this.

“NON-STOP: Mexico to Jamaica” was produced by drum-and-bass reggae legends Sly & Robbie – one of the premier rhythm sections in the world and previous collaborators with Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Peter Tosh, Jimmy Cliff, Madonna and No Doubt.

On the new disc, Ozomatli perform songs written by Selena, Café Tacuba, Juan Gabriel, Julieta Venegas and Los Tigres del Norte — along with classic tracks from their youth.

“Our music has changed a lot over the years,” said Bella. “Our influences are ones we grew up with in L.A.—all kinds of music and cultures.

“Then, other influences come from touring relentlessly and hearing music from New York and New Orleans. Then with our international travels, we got to hear music we had never even heard of — Indian music and other world music from North Africa.

“We recorded the album all last year – give-or-take. It’s kind of a departure. It’s a cover record. We picked music we liked – classic songs from Mexico…old and new.”

Working with Sly & Robbie added a whole new dimension.

“We recorded a song for Sly & Robbie’s last album,” said Bella. “We had run into them at different festivals and we were always big fans. We asked them to work with us on the new album and they were happy to do it.”

The new album is the musical equivalent of steak fajitas with Jamaican jerk sauce – hot, cool and very tasty.

Video link for Ozomatli – https://youtu.be/fdE1XMqxwsc.

The show at Union Transfer, which also features Squirrel Nut Zippers, will start at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $35.

If you like the sound of horns and the dance groove generated by Ozomatli, then there is a very good chance that you’ll really like the music of Lucky Chops – a New York band that is playing April 25 at the World Café Live (3025 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, 215-222-1400, www.worldcafelive.com).

The line-up of instruments for Lucky Chops includes trombone, tenor sax, trumpet, sousaphone and drums. It’s a mix of instruments that gets people up-and-dancing.

With no electric instruments, the band can set up and play virtually anywhere – from a town plaza in a seaside city in Italy to a subway platform in New York City.

Lucky Chops have played both of those locations and, it was in the subways stations of Manhattan that the band developed its initial following.

Lucky Chops features Josh Holcomb-Trombone, Daro Behroozi-Tenor Sax, Joshua Gawel-Trumpet, Charles Sams IV-Drums and
Raphael Buyo-Sousaphone.

“We met when we were in high school in Manhattan,” said Josh Holcomb, during a phone interview Thursday from his New York home. “We all went to La Guardia High School 10 years ago. It’s a specialized arts high school.”

Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts is a high school specializing in teaching visual arts and performing arts. Situated near Lincoln Center in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of the Upper West Side, it was founded by Mayor LaGuardia.

In 1948, a similar institution – the School of Performing Arts – was created to harness students’ talents in dance. The schools merged on paper in 1961. The 1980 dramatic film “Fame” was based on student life at the School of Performing Arts prior to its merger into LaGuardia High School.

“When we began, we started playing in the streets and subways stations in New York,” said Holcomb. “We just all started playing our instruments prior to high school.

“All my friends were playing guitar,” said Holcomb. “I wanted an instrument that was the most rebellious. So, I chose trombone. We all pursued different careers after high school but we still kept the band going.

“Two years ago, we got more serious about Lucky Chops. With the other bands around the world in swing dance, there was a lack of energy. None of them have the energy that Lucky Chops does.

“The reason we started pursuing it more seriously as a career was pour desire to expose more people to the instrumentalization and music.

“We have an unusual lineup and we want people to hear the type of music we play. There are five of us and we play 15 instruments between us. We like to keep it interesting.

“We’ve released two albums and our new EP ‘Walter’ is scheduled to come out on April 28. We called it ‘Walter’ because out tuba is named Walter. The EP is about the personality of our tuba Walter. He’s a wild guy and he makes a heavy scene.”

Lucky Chops might be one of the few bands in America to hone its chops on the subway platforms beneath Grand Central Station.

“Play three hours on a subway station in New York and, if you’re good, you can make enough money to sustain yourself,” said Holcomb. “It helps you learn how to captivate an audience.”

Video link for Lucky Chops – https://youtu.be/WM3hNE-7094.

The show at World Café Live, which has Madaila as the opening act, will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15.

Another band that is horn-oriented and spans genres will be visiting the area this week.

On April 26, the Dustbowl Revival will headline a show at Johnny Brenda’s (1201 North Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia, 215-739-9684,

www.johnnybrendas.com).

The Dustbowl Revival, which is based in Venice, California, merges old school bluegrass, gospel, pre-war blues and the hot swing of New Orleans and bravely brings together many styles of traditional American music. Known for their high energy live shows, the Dustbowl Revival has been described as a “string band-brass band mash-up.”

The lively group’s line-up includes Zach Lupetin (guitars, vocals), Liz Beebe (vocals, washboard), Daniel Mark (mandolin), Connor Vance (fiddle), Matt Rubin (trumpet), Ulf  Bjorlin (trombone), Josh Heffernan (drums) and James Klopfleisch (bass).

“The band started in 2008 and expanded over the years — from a string band at first to eight people down the road,” said Lupetin, during a recent phone interview last week from a tour stop in Tampa, Florida.

“The first expansion was fiddle and mandolin. It’s like a little traveling circus. The full big band line-up has been going strong for about four years. It can expand or contract at times.

“I’m from Chicago and was playing folk and blues when I was in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The idea for a band like this came to me when I was in college at the University of Michigan. I was dreaming about a band that played songs in different genres at once.

“I was in a blues-rock band and started listening to pre-war jazz. I moved from Chicago to Los Angeles. Once I got to L.A., I placed an innocent ad on Craigslist for musicians who loved music from that era. From that, I got together instruments that don’t usually go together.

“I wanted to do something authentic and high energy. I think American music has a lot of different roots. For me, it all starts with the blues and branches out from there. Hank Williams, Muddy Waters, Bob Wills, Mahalia Jackson — all playing this very heartfelt soulful music.

“We try for that. I started learning traditional songs that were the seeds of rock and roll. Music should be real. I don’t want to make over-produced empty music. And, we want to have family appeal. Our audience is a pretty wide mix.”

In 2013, the Dustbowl Revival was named “Best Live Band in LA” by The LA Weekly.

“Around 2013, we decided that we were going to do it for real,” said Lupetin. “Liz Beebe joined the band and we began doing 150-200 gigs a year.

“We’ve had different musicians come and go but the core members have been around for a long time. To play around the country, you need a dedicated group.

“It’s really just old-time party music. It’s just a matter of putting it in a different environment. This band is a work-in-progress.”

Video link for Dustbowl Revival – https://youtu.be/cZAlQHFYEFg.

The show at Johnny Brenda’s, which has Ladybird as the opener, will start at 9 p.m. Tickets are $12.