{"id":22902,"date":"2017-01-27T08:36:33","date_gmt":"2017-01-27T13:36:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=22902"},"modified":"2017-01-27T08:36:38","modified_gmt":"2017-01-27T13:36:38","slug":"on-stage-extra-this-way-to-the-egress-defies-categories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=22902","title":{"rendered":"On Stage (Extra): This Way to the Egress defies categories"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Denny Dyroff<\/strong>,\u00a0<\/span>Staff Writer, The Times<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

This Way to the Egress<\/p><\/div>\n

Anyone who has heard the music of This Way to the Egress, a band from Bethlehem that is playing on January 29 at Kung Fu Necktie (1248 North Front Street, Philadelphia, 215-291-4919, kungfunecktie.com<\/span><\/a>), knows that the band is good \u2013 and that the band\u2019s music is almost impossible to describe easily.<\/span><\/p>\n

In one press release, the sextet\u2019s music is described as an \u201can explosion of sound and sight that\u2019s equal parts unruly vaudeville, ebullient world-beat and three ring circus\u2026.an amalgamation of worldly genres that catapults their audience through time and space with unexpected shifts of styles, tempos and time signatures.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This is not so surprising if you consider the source of the Lehigh Valley band\u2019s name \u2013 P.T. Barnum.<\/span><\/p>\n

Barnum\u2019s American Museum was so popular that people would spend the entire day there. This cut into profits, as the museum would be too full to squeeze another person in. In classic Barnum style, old P.T. put up signs that said \u201cThis Way to the Egress.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Many customers followed the signs, not realizing that \u201cEgress\u201d was a fancy word for \u201cExit.\u201d They kept on looking for this strange new attraction, the \u201cEgress.\u201d Many patrons followed the signs right out the door. Once they had exited the building, the door would lock behind them, and if they wanted to get back in, they had to pay another admission charge.<\/span><\/p>\n

This Way to the Egress don\u2019t pull any fast ones on their fans but they do provide an atmosphere that captures the variety, excitement and adrenalin rush of a circus performance. Confetti snowstorms, tuba farts, Balinese chanting, fire-wielding evangelists and puppets sweep across the stage and create an anything-goes atmosphere. There is no escape.<\/span><\/p>\n

Egress is Taylor Galassi (lead vocals, accordion, piano); Sarah Shown (vocals, piano, violin); John Wentz (tuba, backup vocals); Joe Lynch (trombone, backup vocals); Jaclyn Kidd (guitar, banjo) and Nick Pecca (drums\/percussion). Hailing from a wide variety of musical backgrounds with a diverse array of influences, Egress crafts intricately-arranged songs that get people out of their seats. The band\u2019s genre-bending sound leaves the audience wondering what will happen next.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHow do we describe our music?,\u201d said Shown during a phone interview Wednesday afternoon from her home in Bethlehem. \u201cWe\u2019ve been at odds with that since the beginning. It has a worldly influence along with punk, Eastern European, reggae and gypsy \u2013 sort of avant-garde meets punk.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe all live in Bethlehem except our tuba player John Wentz who lives in Brooklyn. I\u2019m grew up in the Poconos. Taylor originally played accordion and cello in John\u2019s band. Taylor saw me play in a pub in the Poconos and told me that we should play together.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat was back in 2008 and we were doing stuff in a similar vein. We put the band together and Joe and Jaclyn started playing with us sporadically at the beginning. They were on the first album even though they weren\u2019t in the band full-time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This Way to the Egress released its debut album \u201cThis Delicious Cabaret\u201d in 2011.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOriginally, it was just a three-piece \u2013 me, Taylor and a drummer,\u201d said Shown. \u201cAfter the album came out, Joe and Jaclyn joined the band-full time and have bee die-hard members ever since. We had a drummer named Matt for the first four years. After he left, we had a number of different drummers. We got our new drummer Nick Pecca in October and he\u2019s become a permanent member.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This Way to the Egress is still touring behind\u00a0the band\u2019s third studio\u00a0album, 2015\u2019s\u00a0\u201cGreat Balancing Act.\u201d Produced by Roger Greenawalt (Iggy Pop, Branford Marsalis, Philip Glass), the album is billed as \u201can energetic, foot-stomping, arm-linking, sing-a-long call to action from a band\u00a0that combines Gogol Bordello\u2019s energy and antics with Django Reinhardt\u2019s musical sensibilities and Tom Waits\u2019 grit.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re getting ready for our next album,\u201d said Shown. \u201cWe\u2019re launching a Kickstarter campaign in a week. We already have a studio picked out \u2013 Vibromonk Studios in Brooklyn. It\u2019s going to be a 12-track album and all the songs are already written.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been doing three rehearsals a week to get them ready. Now, we\u2019re doing a three-week tour to get them ready. There will be quite a few songs on the new album that are different. But, that\u2019s to be expected because we have so many influences.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Video link This Way to the Egress \u2013 https:\/\/youtu.be\/5TIRkZXXwb0<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The show at Kung Fu Necktie, which also features The Royal Noise and Bella\u2019s Bartok, will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $8 in advance and $10 at the door.<\/span><\/p>\n

Other upcoming shows at Kung Fu Necktie are Abacus<\/span><\/a>, Drones for Queens, and Supine<\/span><\/a> on January 27; Clamfight, Brain Candle, and Decap Attak on January 28 and <\/span>Extra Dark<\/span>, <\/span>Leisure Muffin, Stateschoolgirl, and Lojit<\/span> on February 1.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The Tin Angel<\/p><\/div>\n

The Tin Angel (20 South Second Street, Philadelphia, 215-928-0770, http:\/\/www.tinangel.com<\/span><\/a>) has run a good race for more than two decades but now the venerable music club in downtown Philadelphia is on its \u201cgun lap.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Tin Angel will close the room at its current location on Olde City on February 4. Owner Donal McCoy and booker Larry Goldfarb have plans to continue operating the Tin Angel at a larger venue later in 2017.<\/span><\/p>\n

For the last few weeks, acts have returned to play the Tin Angel one last time and there has been a string of sold-out shows.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tickets still remain for just three shows \u2013 \u201cFarewell to Tin Angel: A Benefit for Soundgirls.org<\/span><\/a>\u201d on January 31, Eric Bazilian and Wesley Stace: Au Revoir to the Tin Angel on February 1 and The Hillbenders on February 2.<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201cFarewell to Tin Angel: A Benefit for Soundgirls.org<\/span><\/a>\u201d concert will feature sets by John Francis and Jesse Lundy, Kufie Knotz, Laura Shay, Lily Mae, Ross Bellenoit, Hezekiah Jones, Stargazer Lilly, Brian Seymour, and Nate Gonzalez.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

John Francis<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThe premise of this show started with a conversation I had with Larry (Goldfarb),\u201d said Lundy, during a phone interview Thursday morning. \u201cI told Larry that hundreds of people have said \u2013 I wish I was playing the Tin Angel one last time. He said \u2013 why don\u2019t you and John Francis put something together?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why John Francis and I are co-hosting this show. We\u2019ve been working on it for a couple weeks. Having Stargazer Lily play is pretty big because they don\u2019t play a lot of live shows. It\u2019s a really strong line-up with a lot of great Philly acts.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI expect the show to run from about 8-11 p.m. I think we\u2019re going to do a lot of individual short sets. And, I imagine by the end, there will be a lot of the musicians doing a Cumbaya thing and performing together on stage.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Video link for Stargazer Lily \u2013https:\/\/youtu.be\/gb8jPkpbJkM<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The special concert at the Tin Angel on February 1 will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $5.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is no city in America anything like New Orleans. And, no city in the world has a music scene as distinctive as New Orleans.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Crescent City has produced an amazing number of top-flight bands in a variety of genres including Jazz, Creole, Second Line, Soul, Dixieland, Rock, Blues, Cajun, Rhythm & Blues, Ragtime, and down-home swamp music.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The Subdudes<\/p><\/div>\n

The Subdudes, who formed in 1987 in New Orleans, play music that encapsulates that sound — a swampy mix of Cajun-style roots,\u00a0rhythm & blues, rock, folk, soul and gospel with four-part vocal harmonies. \u00a0\u00a0After a dozen records and hundreds of live performances around the country, this quartet has quietly become one of America\u2019s music treasures.<\/span><\/p>\n

The band, which will be performing on February 1 at the Sellersville Theater (24 West Temple Avenue, Sellersville, 215-257-5808,\u00a0www.st94.com<\/span><\/a>), features Tommy Malone on guitar, John Magnie on keys and accordion, Steve Amedee on tambourine, and Tim Cook on bass and percussion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The finale of each show is a much-anticipated part of the live performance when The Subdudes unplug from the stage and join the audience on the floor to play an intimate and rousing acoustic set.\u00a0 Their latest album \u201c4 on the Floor\u201d captures that unique experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe get a new life going when we\u2019re out in the crowd singing,\u201d said Magnie, during a phone interview Wednesday from his home in Fort Collins, Colorado.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been doing it for quite a while. We just made our new CD in that style. The album just became available on our website. We\u2019re excited to be coming back to the Sellersville Theater. We really like the theater and the town. It\u2019s a fun town.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Subdudes got their start in America\u2019s premier \u201cfun town.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUs getting the band together was part of our being musical brothers in New Orleans,\u201d said Magnie. \u201cWe were playing together in different groups before the Subdudes started. Subdudes was one of those accidents that just happens.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a Monday night \u2018piano night\u2019 at Tipitina\u2019s (a famous New Orleans music club) back in 1987. I played accordion instead of keyboards. Steve did his tambourine thing \u2013 playing with a spatula. It went over well. After that, we held down the Tuesday Maple Leaf spot for about three months.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThen, later in \u201987, we moved to Fort Collins. Coming up here, we were different. It was timing. We caught on pretty good and, after nine months, we got a record deal with Atlantic Records. We did two albums with Atlantic on their East West label. We ended up with two 10-year runs, eight studio albums and a couple live ones.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of \u201996, we shut it down. We kinda ran our course artistically. We weren\u2019t writing together anymore so the band broke up. At the time, we felt like that was it \u2013 that it was over for good.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But, they learned to never say never.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAfter a while, we decided that we all made our best music when we made it together,\u201d said Marnie. \u201cAt one of Tommy\u2019s gigs \u2013 his show in Denver \u2013 I joined him on stage and it was good. We realized we played really good together. Johnny Ray Allen, our original bass player, wasn\u2019t in that second edition. We had Jimmy Messa and Tim Cook on bass. We had a run of 9-10 years and then broke up again.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThen, Johnny Allen pulled us back together for the third version back in 2014. Four months into it, he died of a heart attack. So, we have Tim Cook on bass again. This is the best version we\u2019ve had yet.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn our current shows, we have some songs we play all the time. But, we always play something off all eight albums. And, we like playing the songs from our new album. They go over really well live \u2013 especially when we\u2019re out in the audience playing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Video link for the Subdudes \u2013 https:\/\/youtu.be\/QoGcwTbVbL4<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The show at Sellersville, which also features Bob Malone, will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $35 and $49.50.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The Birds of Chicago<\/p><\/div>\n

The Birds of Chicago, who will perform on February 1 at the World Caf\u00e9 Live (3025 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, 215-222-1400, www.worldcafelive.com<\/span><\/a>), are billed as a \u201crock-and-roll \u2018secular gospel\u2019 duo.\u201d The duo draws heavily on the gospel tradition and their music feels like a new, secular gospel of sorts.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Birds of Chicago are a collective fronted by Allison Russell and JT Nero. The band was formed in 2012 when Nero, who had previous success with his band JT and the Clouds, began writing for Russell, who was previously a member of the acclaimed Canadian roots outfit Po’ Girl. Since the band\u2019s formation, they have released two studio albums and one live disc.<\/span><\/p>\n

Once they got together, Nero and Russell found an unmistakable chemistry. Nero had found the perfect voice for his rock and roll psalms. Russell moved from being a primary songwriter to an interpreter.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe just came out of the cave,\u201d said Nero, during a phone interview Wednesday afternoon from his home in Chicago. \u201cWe\u2019ve been in the studio for the last four days working on our next album.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe cut it in Chicago at Steve Albini\u2019s Electrical Audio Studio. This studio has a lot of great old gear \u2013 and the best live recording room in the city. I\u2019m co-producing it with Luther Dickinson from the North Mississippi All Stars. For a Midwest musician, Chicago is like Athens. Chicago has been my home since 2002. \u201cAllison is from Montreal, Quebec but she has been a citizen of the world since 2005.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI lived in San Francisco for about three years back in 2001 and it had become clear to me that I was going to be all-in doing music. Trish Klein from the band Be Good Tanyas told me about this 18-year-old woman \u2013 a singer who had taught herself clarinet. I met Ali. She and I sang together and there was alchemy there.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Things developed quickly.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2012, we decided to carve out our own musical space \u2013 and we also became a couple,\u201d said Nero. \u201cWe backed into making a record \u2013 doing a Kickstarter thing. We weren\u2019t even calling ourselves Birds of Chicago yet. Our self-titled album came out in 2013. Then, we started touring hard \u2013 180-200 shows a year. We were pretty much out on the road all the time. We found our stride as Birds.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur first proper album was \u2018Real Midnight.\u2019 We recorded it in Pasadena with Joe Henry as the producer. That was our first real statement. By the time \u2018Real Midnight\u2019 came out, we had found our identity.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe songs on that album came together pretty quickly. They were written in the happiest years of our lives. We had just had our first daughter Ida Maeve. It was more of a melancholy record. Joe Henry was the perfect match as a producer.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The new album, which is still a work-in-progress, will have a different vibe.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe next one is much more of a joyous, rocking soul thing,\u201d said Nero. \u201cWe finished tracking and now it\u2019s on to the mixing. Hopefully, it will be out in the fall. We want it to be a shot in the arm for people. We owe some loving to our folks. When the macro is oppressive, you have to focus on the micro.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Video link for Birds of Chicago \u2013 https:\/\/youtu.be\/145bdCkL32M<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The show at the World Caf\u00e9 Live, which also features Levon Henry, will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15.<\/span><\/p>\n

Other upcoming shows at the World Caf\u00e9 Live are Bronze Radio Return and Air Traffic Controller on January 27; The Infamous Stringdusters: The Laws of Gravity Tour and The Brothers Comatose on January 28; Tiffany Jones Quintet and V. Shayne Frederick on January 29; and Bill Laurance of Snarky Puppy<\/span><\/a> and Darla<\/span><\/a> on January 31.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Denny Dyroff,\u00a0Staff Writer, The Times\u00a0 Anyone who has heard the music of This Way to the Egress, a band from Bethlehem that is playing on January 29 at Kung Fu Necktie (1248 North Front Street, Philadelphia, 215-291-4919, kungfunecktie.com), knows that the band is good \u2013 and that the band\u2019s music is almost impossible to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22904,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7529],"tags":[8475,6518,8474,8472,8473,8471],"class_list":["post-22902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-d-arts-entertainment","tag-birds-of-chicago","tag-featured","tag-john-francis","tag-subdudes","tag-the-tin-angel","tag-this-way-to-the-egress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22902"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22903,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22902\/revisions\/22903"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}