Music News

The Jockstrap Salt Lake City show! Here are 3 things to know

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Georgia Ellery and Taylor Skye bring us a Jockstrap Salt Lake City show in September

Who imagined this remarkable summer of live music would end with a Jockstrap Salt Lake City show!

British students Georgia Ellery and Taylor Skye released my favorite album of 2022. Jennifer B, I Love You is a exquisite amalgam of funky electropop, glitchy dance beats, giant esoteric hooks and Ellery’s deliquescent vocals floating throughout.

This is — end of May? Even now, I find myself in random moments singing some loopy bridge from last year’s Jennifer B. What a gift to be able to see the Jockstrap Salt Lake City show just before the weather turns truly cold!

Here are 3 things you need to know about Jockstrap and the upcoming performance.

3 things about the Jockstrap Salt Lake City show

The Jockstrap Salt Lake City show will be at the Soundwell venue on 200 South

1. When and Where

First, Jockstrap will play the Soundwell venue on September 27. Soundwell is at 149 West on 200 South. Soundwell opened just a couple of years before The Corona and I have never been inside — however the publicity photos are a knockout.

2. How Much?

Second, only in Utah can you see a world class performance like Jockstrap for the low, low price of $22. Of course…with taxes, fees, handling, shipping and international freight, your final out-of-pocket is $32 from Tixr. Still a great value for your indie rock dollar.

3. Why Jockstrap?!

Third, dumb band name aside, Jockstrap beat out some real heavy-hitters to become my #1 album of 2022. Not persuaded? Here is Jockstrap’s “Glasgow” as a sample.

I can’t recommend enough that you drop $10 at Bandcamp for a digital copy of I Love You, Jennifer B. The compact disc, all in, is $17…vinyl is $27. You can also buy directly from Jockstrap at their website.

The Jockstrap Salt Lake City Show

Final note. As it happens, Georgia Ellery will play Soundwell twice in three weeks.

In her spare time outside of school and touring the world with Jockstrap, Ellery plays violin for Black Country, New Road. BCNR is (also) touring the world. After releasing Ants From Up There, singer Isaac Wood departed. As a result, the band wrote and is playing from an entirely new set of music. Ellery and Black Country, New Road play Soundwell on September 8.

I’ve bought my ticket for the Jockstrap Salt Lake City show. September 28 is now on my calendar as a perfectly fitting end to Summer 2023!

Spoon and Weezer SLC ticket cost and info. Hint: consider a second mortgage

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Spoon, Weezer SLC concert will be on August 27

Weezer and Spoon (or more properly, Spoon and Weezer) announced a summer concert today at The Great Saltair. The Spoon and Weezer SLC show is on a Sunday night, August 27. It is part of what’s billed as the Weezer Indie Rock Road Trip. What a great wrap to the summer!

Ticket info for Spoon, Weezer SLC show

You can see the Spoon and Weezer SLC show on August 27 at the Great Saltair

The first tickets go on sale for Salt Air fan club members and VIP tickets Wednesday at 10AM. Live Nation sales start Thursday and general admission on Friday. This is a spendy date.

General lawn seats are $65… so you’re close to $90 with taxes and fees just to sit in the grass with the great unwashed. Unfortunately the next step up is a VIP ticket with a premium seat and unknown “merch” (chip clip? refrigerator magnet?). VIP tix cost close to $200 all in.

If you’re not a wild-eyed superfan, I can’t recommend the mostly vague VIP options.

I’m a little lost on better guidance for seating — I have never been to Saltair. The truth is: I didn’t know Saltair was still booking acts on the south shore of the Great Salt Lake. Some coming attractions include the Thrones of Blood US tour (March 25), Kayzo – Unleashed XL (April 7), NGHTMRE (April 21) and Seven Lions: Beyond the Veil (June 9).

Not clear if these are bands or Dungeons & Dragons conventions.

Hey stop! Have you seen the daily schedule for the Kilby Block Party in May? They’re right here:

Spoon and Weezer SLC concert at end of nationwide tour

From June until the middle of September, Weezer is touring with Spoon, Modest Mouse and Future Islands. I think we are just fortunate that the Western US leg of the tour in August includes this Spoon, Weezer SLC combo. Here is the current itinerary:

  • 03-18 Tampa, FL – Innings Festival Florida

  • 06-03 Lexington, KY – Railbird Music Festival
  • 06-04 Huntsville, AL – The Orion Amphitheater $@
  • 06-06 Irving, TX – The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory $@
  • 06-08 Austin, TX Germania Insurance Amphitheater  $@
  • 06-10 Oklahoma City, OK – Zoo Amphitheatre $@
  • 06-11 Bonner Springs, KS – Azura Amphitheater $@
  • 06-13 Minneapolis, MN – The Armory $@
  • 06-14 Madison, WI – Breese Stevens Field $@
  • 06-16 Cuyahoga Falls, OH – Blossom Music Center $@
  • 06-17-18 Indianapolis, IN – Wonderroad Festival
  • 06-18 Clarkston, MI – Pine Knob Music Theatre $@
  • 06-23 Columbia, MD – Merriweather Post Pavilion &%
  • 06-24 Charlotte, NC – PNC Music Pavilion &%
  • 06-25 Alpharetta, GA – Ameris Bank Amphitheatre &%
  • 06-27 Philadelphia, PA – TD Pavilion at the Mann &%
  • 06-28 Bridgeport, CT – Hartford Healthcare Amphitheater &%
  • 06-30 Bangor, ME – Maine Savings Amphitheater &%

  • 07-01 Worcester, MA – The Palladium Outdoors &%
  • 07-03 Canandaigua, NY – CMAC &%
  • 07-04 Toronto, Ontario – Budweiser Stage &%
  • 07-09 Gary, IN – Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana – Hard Rock Live %
  • 07-11 Pittsburgh, PA – Stage AE &%
  • 07-13 Queens, NY – Forest Hills Stadium &%
  • 07-28-07-30 Naeba, Japan – Fuji Rock Festival

Weezer Indie Rock Tour heads west in August

  • 08-22 Bend, OR – Hayden Homes Amphitheater *^
  • 08-24 Berkeley, CA – Greek Theatre *^
  • 08-27 Magna, UT – The Great Saltair – Outdoor Pavilion *^
  • 08-28 Greenwood Village, CO – Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre *^
  • 08-30 Phoenix, AZ – Arizona Financial Theatre *^

  • 09-01 Las Vegas, NV – Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood *^
  • 09-02 Irvine, CA – Fivepoint Amphitheatre *^
  • 09-03 San Diego, CA – Sycuan Stage at Gallagher Square Petco Park *^
  • 09-17 Asbury Park, NJ – Sea.Hear.Now Festival

$ with Modest Mouse
@ with Momma
* with Spoon
^ with White Reaper
& with Future Islands
% with Joyce Manor

Get ready for the Weezer Indie Rock Roadtrip

Weezer and Spoon were both very active in 2022. Weezer released four seasonal EP’s in 2022, like the Gilmore Girls reboot. SZNZ: Spring came out in March 2022 and the subsequent three EP’s for each season by December. All of this and more at Weezerpedia, which is an actual site on the interwebs. Spoon toured on the acclaimed Lucifer on the Sofa throughout 2022, including in Salt Lake City in May.

Here’s the reveal video for the Weezer Indie Rock Roadtrip. See you at The Great Saltair!

Breaking Semiwestern news! The band Semiwestern releasing full length

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The band Semiwestern is about to release a full length LP! Listen to single "Velvet Sea" here

Attention music lovers, the best possible news: The band Semiwestern is releasing a debut LP this year, with singles to come this spring!

Who is this band Semiwestern you speak of?

In November 2022, like a delicate shot across the bow, California’s redoubtable Spirit Goth Records released “Velvet Sea.” I naturally believed this was new music. It was, in fact, a remix of a song recorded by Semiwestern’s members ten years earlier as The Vliets.

Before we go any further, listen to the updated “Velvet Sea” to understand how I swooned over this atmospheric, Luna-inflected recording. It was my #1 or #2 favorite song of the entire year. Since, then, I have listened to “Velvet Sea” approximately one billion times.

I’ll be honest, there’s not a ton of information on the world wide interwebs about either The Vliets or Semiwestern. But here’s what I can tell you.

Semiwestern, formerly The Vliets, reappear a decade later

A brief history of the world. The band Semiwestern emerged from Austin’s The Vliets (pronounced VLEETS), who were active about ten years ago. The Vliets, lead by singer Ty Bohrnstedt, released The Vliets EP in 2011 and God’s Drug EP in 2012. God’s Drug included the original “Velvet Sea.”

These early EP’s by The Vliets are more traditionally alternative. Here is “Pale Solar Stream” from 2012’s God’s Drug EP. You can hear just an echo of what Ty would mix in 2022.

In 2018, The Vliets released the Semiwestern EP, seemingly leading to the band’s current moniker. You can buy all three EP’s from The Vliets/Semiwestern Bandcamp page.

The band Semiwestern plans full release

The band Semiwestern released their transcendent remix of "Velvet Sea" on Spirit Goth Records in November. Listen to it here!

I was so smitten by the band Semiwestern’s remix of “Velvet Sea” that I inquired with both Spirit Goth and Semiwestern about a new album. Was I a wee bit stalker-y? Possibly, but not completely psycho.

Ty says “a full length album (is) coming. It’s finished but we have to shoot a few music videos and tie up a few loose ends before we set release dates. My best guess is we’ll start putting the singles out around April or so.”

That means we could be six weeks out from new Semiwestern material and I couldn’t be more excited. Will it be consistent with The Vliets indie-centric back catalogue? Or more of the California dream pop like “Velvet Sea?” We will find out!

One more platform for the single, here is the video for the updated “Velvet Sea.”

The Kilby Block Party: See the daily schedule reveal right here!

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Kilby Court has revealed its daily lineup

Stop, this is Important Stuff: The daily Kilby Block Party lineups are now visible!

Organizers have done a fab job building out the Kilby Block Party 2023 lineup, which just gets better each day. The Kilby Block Party SLC info has been out there kind of low key at the 24tix website where you buy tickets. It’s now also tucked inside the FAQs, but not headlined in any way.

So here are your headlines:

FRIDAY: Japanese Breakfast, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Cuco…
SATURDAY: Run the Jewels, Weyes Blood and Alex G…
SUNDAY: The Walkmen, Parquet Courts and what I predict will be a legendary show by Pavement.

Oh also on Sunday, The Pixies, whatever that means anymore.

If you’re wondering what day to spend your hard-earned rock and roll dollar, this may help. No times but generally your marquee acts will play later in the day.

The Kilby Block Party Friday (May 12)

  • Yeah Yeah Yeahs
  • Japanese Breakfast
  • Cuco
  • Deerhoof
The YYY, Japanese Breakfast, Cuco and Deerhoof will all be part of the Kilby Block Party 2023 lineup

  • Also on Friday: Dominic Fike, Remi Wolf, Lucius, Ritt Momney, Frankie Cosmos, Jean Dawson, Alice Phoebe Lou, Westerman, Julie, Momma, NoSo, Miya Folick, The Plastic Cherries, Homephone, Sunhills

Read about LISTEN TO every Friday band in the Kilby Block Party Friday lineup right here

Kilby Block Party Saturday (May 13)

  • Run the Jewels
  • Weyes Blood
  • Alex G
  • The Strokes
More bands playing the Kilby Block Party SLC this year: Run the Jewels, Weyes Blood, Alex G and The Strokes

  • Also on Saturday: Hippo Campus, Caroline Polacheck, Goth Babe, Osees, Gus Dapperton, Indigo De Souza, Dreamer Isioma, The Moss, Wallice, Tamino, Grace Ives, Tanukichan, Sunsleeper, Kipper Snack, Hi Again, Anais Chantal, Josh Doss & The Cancers

The Kilby Block Party Sunday (May 14)

  • Pavement
  • The Walkmen
  • Parquet Courts
  • The Pixies
The final night of the Kilby Block Party will include Pavement, The Walkmen, Parquet Courts and The Pixies

  • Also Sunday: The Backseat Lovers, Surf Curse, Faye Webster, Crumb, Ethel Cain, Wednesday, Kate Bollinger, Spill Tab, Mannequin Pussy, Deeper, Tolchok Trio, Worlds Worst, Fonteyn, Backhand, Musor

Tickets…parking…lockers

Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Pixies and Weyes Blood will be May 12-14 at the Utah State Fairgrounds

Tickets for the Kilby Block Party 2023 lineup

So, good news right now, the only sold out tickets are 3-day Super VIP and Saturday Super VIP. Standard 3-day VIP tickets and 1-day VIP tickets for Friday and Sunday are still out there. Honestly, I’m not sure why I did the Super deal, the standard 3-day VIP tickets include premium viewing areas, re-entry, some kind of access to an overpriced bar, etc. Still a good investment.

Standard VIP for 3 days is $299. General admission for 3 days is $209. Spend the extra $90 believe me. All available right here.

Kilby Block Party SLC parking

It’s not great.

Apparently you can reserve parking during ticket checkout, which I didn’t do. Now that I’ve bought my tickets, I don’t see a way to go back and just pay for parking separately from my ticket purchase.

UPDATE: I found a link for official Kilby parking here. The information was actually included in the fine print of my original e-mail ticket receipt, so I herewith absolve Kilby organizers of parking neglect.

You’re probably going to end up spending $20 or $30 a day on the private lots. You can also take your chances leaving your car at the abandoned Wienerschnitzel and buy a side of Fentanyl on your way in. Or you can park downtown and ride in on Trax.

Lockers, chargers, all the Coachella photo ops!

Lockers serve as a meet up location and storage for merch and approved bags you don’t want to carry all day. Importantly, the locker is also a charging station for your phone after all those pointless, long-range shots over the really tall bros standing in front of you.

The lockers are $20 a day and you clean out your stuff before leaving like a Planet Fitness. For $60, you get a locker for three days and you can leave your leftover gyro in there until Sunday.

Daily schedule for Kilby Block Party 2023 lineup

The Kilby Court Block Party 4 is May 12-14

I hope these lineup and ticket updates are useful. Over the coming weeks, I’ll be posting profiles of some of the artists where you can read and hear their songs before they appear.

Have a question or comment about the Kilby Block Party 2023 lineup or logistics? Email me at the address in the About section of the Zerovu website. You can also subscribe for e-mail alerts below.

May will be here before we know it!

These are three of my favorite headliners at KBP4…what are yours?!

Television founder, punk legend, Tom Verlaine passing at 73. What we know about his death

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Tom Verlaine passing comes as surprise. A tribute to the iconic leader of New York's Television.

Marquee Moon is one of those few albums you’ll always remember hearing for the first time. Now thousands of fans may remember where they were when they heard of Tom Verlaine passing. He was 73.

Music pioneer Tom Verlaine passing away comes as shock

Jesse Paris Smith, the daughter of Patti Smith, with whom Verlaine frequently collaborated, announced his death today after a “brief illness.”

Best known for his groundbreaking work in the influential art punk band Television, Verlaine was an immense influence on the punk rock scene and his death leaves a lasting impression on a generation of fans.

Tom Verlaine, born Thomas Miller on December 13, 1949, had a music career that stretched back to the early 1970s, when he co-founded the influential punk band Television alongside Richard Hell and Richard Lloyd.

The band made a massive impact on the punk scene with their influential albums Marquee Moon (1977) and Adventure (1978). Verlaine released a string of solo albums throughout his career, including the highly acclaimed Tom Verlaine (1979) and Dreamtime (1981).

Verlaine rose to fame as the front man of influential 1970’s band Television

Tom Verlaine passing today ends a remarkable career that started with Marquee Moon in 1977.

Television formed in New York City in 1973, and quickly made a name for themselves with their unique blend of punk and avant-garde rock. Their debut album, Marquee Moon, released in 1977, is considered a classic of the genre. It was a major influence on the punk and alternative rock scenes that followed.

Verlaine’s guitar technique and lyrical style

Verlaine’s guitar playing was unlike anything else of his time. It blended elements of punk, blues, and jazz to create a sound that was both raw and sophisticated. His use of dissonance and complex chord progressions was a major influence on many guitarists who came after him.

Verlaine’s influence on the music world extends far beyond just his guitar playing. He was known for his poetic and literate lyrics. They often dealt with themes of alienation and urban life. He was also a major influence on the New York City music scene, helping to pave the way for the punk and alternative movements of the 1970s and 80s.

Tom Verlaine’s passing hard to believe

Before Tom Verlaine’s passing, I probably hadn’t listened to Marquee Moon for 15 years. Until about two months ago. I brought it back out to remind myself of some of the tonality that Television achieved.

Those opening bars of “See No Evil” are iconic to me as anything in rock music. Marquee Moon was as impeccable that November night in 2022 as it was when it transformed the New York scene in 1977.

“See No Evil” – Television (Marquee Moon)

With Tom Verlaine’s passing, he now sees the Torn Curtain. Rest in peace.