PRESS PHOTOFebruary is more than just another month when it’s cold and snows a lot. It’s more than a month with a silent R. It’s more than a month that harbors an illegitimate holiday which pretends to be about love even though we all know it’s really about Russell Stover, Hallmark and 1-800-Flowers. Hark February, and mark its days in red, for February is the month of the hallowed winter tour! This is the month that bands shake off dust accumulated during holiday vacations, recover from hangovers leftover from New Year’s runs, and set out across our fine country to entertain those of us brave enough to leave our heaters for a night. And if the following list isn’t incentive enough, remember that it’s a leap year, and that these kind of music-gorged months don’t come along that often.
moe.
Tuesday, 2/3 at the Pageant
One of the groups that, along with the Dead, Phish, Widespread Panic and the String Cheese Incident, keep the jam band cheerleading pyramid upright. Based in upstate New York, moe. have made a living out of live rock shows that gut album-tight songs and make them longer, louder, and easier to dance to. Younger and hipper than the Dead, less psychedelic than Phish, not as pan fried in butter as Panic, and less hillbilly than Cheese, moe. have their share of neo-hippie fans, as well as a healthy helping of the rest of us who just like to shake a groove.
Maritime
Wednesday, 2/4 at the Rocket Bar
Once they were parts of the Promise Ring (A) and the Dismemberment Plan (B); now they are Maritime (C). Their EP is on sale exclusively at independent record stores, which in this neck of the woods means Vintage Vinyl. If you like (A) and/or (B) it is safe to say that you will like (C) and therefore should a.) support your local independent record store by buying the Maritime EP, and b.) check out Maritime at the Rocket Bar. And that’s enough letters for now.
Julia Sets
Wednesday, 2/4 at Frederick’s Music Lounge
If you have ever wondered what your favorite record store clerks are up to, here’s your chance to find out. Julia Sets, the little indie rockish punkish band that could, now has a regular gig every Wednesday at Frederick’s Music Lounge. They are cool. Why? Well, for starters, they put up their as-yet-unreleased record “Steel Rails Under Thundering Skies” for free downloading online. How nice of them! You can get it by clicking on the link at their site: www.radiopenny.com/juliasets. When not busy being somehow otherwise involved in the music business, Julia Sets records with Roadhouse Tunes, a label run and founded by fellow St. Louis rockers The Pubes.
Drive-By Truckers
Wednesday, 2/4 at Blueberry Hill
If you threw a rock in 2002, you probably hit some music critic who just loved the two-disc opus “Southern Rock Opera,” the Truckers’ homage to livin, lovin, and drinkin in the South. This Athens, Georgia-based quintet makes intelligent trucker rock, that is, music you can slur your words to AND think about. See the Truckers if you have ever, even once, yelled “Play some Skynyrd, man!” no matter how drunk you were at the time. But be forewarned, if you yell that at the show, some critic might throw a rock at you.
Hey Mercedes and Wheat
Wednesday, 2/11 at the Gargoyle
It’s not that Hey Mercedes is an emo band, it’s that they’re, well, an emo band. But don’t heave a great sigh and move on just yet. If for nothing else, keep reading because your favorite thing to do in life is support shows at the Gargoyle. And even if that’s a blatant lie, keep reading because Hey Mercedes is an energetic rock band, what some these days would even call a punk band. Former members of Braid and Sheilbound got together, released two albums, tour constantly, and make very listenable and enjoyable pop-punk-emo-rock. Their being on tour with Wheat is sort of odd because Wheat is somewhat softer, though no less emotive. Soft refers to Wheat’s texture, which, let’s get nice and lame here, evokes vast fields swaying in the wind, a layered breadbasket of sound. Of course that makes less sense than our comments about Hey Mercedes, but this is all our clever way of getting you to go to the show to assuage your burning curiosity concerning what the hell we’re talking about.
Poi Dog Pondering
Tuesday, 2/17 at Blueberry Hill
This sprawling Chicago (by way of Austin) (by way of Hawaii) band has had five line-ups since their original 1986 incarnation, and as many as eleven members. But nothing can phase founder Frank Orrall, who is as famously chill as his band’s music, although it gets hard to pin down a sound when it changes seemingly as often as Orrall’s underwear. Dance, jazz and folk are all words various critics have used to describe the PdP sound, but perhaps their Web site says it best with the phrase “acoustronic atmospheres.” No, we’re not sure what that means, but we’re absolutely sure that’s the point.
alaska!
Friday, 2/27 at the Gargoyle
alaska! is a! band! founded by! former members of! the New Folk Implosion!, Sebadoh!, and lowercase! Ok, we’re stopping that exclamation point thing now. The band members describe themselves among those willing to live and die for their music, which is of course something we all suspected about Sebadoh in the mid-90s, and are a little morbidly delighted to have confirmed. Part of the orchestral pop breed the likes of the Shins, the Flaming Lips and the Decemberists, the music of alaska! is not exactly sunny, but then there’s not a whole lot of sun in Alaska. And for those who are interested and want to save themsevles the trouble of googling alaska! and getting all sorts of tourism information, the site is www.pureyukon.com.
The best of the rest: Because it’s late and we’re tired and have lots of reading to do.
If you…
Want to get in touch with your roots and then eat a big plate of home fries at a diner, catch
Split Lip Rayfield,
Thursday, 2/5 at Blueberry Hill
Blind boys of Alabama,
Friday, 2/6 at SIU Edwardsville
North Mississippi Allstars,
Thursday, 2/12 at Mississippi Nights
Want to see the band that used to be your big brother’s favorite band, catch
Big Head Todd and the Monsters
Wednesday, 2/18 at the Pageant
Robben Ford
Wednesday, 2/19 at Blueberry Hill
Guster
Friday, 2/27 at the Pageant
Are feeling beautiful yet slightly sad and need a personal soundtrack, catch
Erykah Badu and Floetry
Friday, 2/20 at the Pageant
Rufus Wainwright
Sunday, 2/22 at the Pageant
The Mountain Goats and Manishevitz
Tuesday, 2/24 at the Rocket Bar
Want to pretend you didn’t drive to the venue in the car your parents bought you, catch
Boys Night Out, Moneen, Senses Fail,
The Beautiful Mistake
Thursday, 2/19 at the Creepy Crawl
Dynamite Boy, Fall Out Boy, Matchbook Romance, Mest
Tuesday, 2/17 at Mississippi Nights
Puddle of Mudd and Smile Empty Soul
Tuesday, 2/10 at the Pageant
Want to hear the best band you’ve never heard before their popularity explodes and their concerts sell-out, catch
Centro-matic
Monday, 2/23 at the Hi-Pointe
Bishop Allen
Wednesday, 2/25 at the Rocket Bar
Wanna get craaaazy because the month is almost over, catch
Primus
Wednesday, 2/25 at the Pageant
Spookie Daly Pride
Thursday, 2/26 at Cicero’s
Galactic and Mike Doughty, Saturday, 2/28 at Mississippi Nights
Gossip, Sunday, 2/29 at the Gargoyle