Songs of themselves: Your 2014 Pitch Music Award nominees
About a year ago, I made my first trip to Kansas City for The Pitch Music Showcase. I remember sweating inside the Riot Room as Not a Planet, Antennas Up, Sons of Great Dane, and Hammerlord delivered blistering sets.
As the streets of Westport swelled with enthusiastic local-music supporters, I felt a sense of appreciation for this diamond-in-the-rough patch of talent. I also recognized the spark of opportunity here, and the more I talked to people, the more I realized that they felt it, too.
Since moving here from Minneapolis in September, I’ve immersed myself in the music community, and I’ve found an eclectic bunch, born of influences as varied as the bands on this year’s ballot. In every conversation, there seems to be a common understanding: Things here are changing.
More local acts are getting national attention. Your Friend signed to Domino Records in February. Radkey’s momentum only increased after winning over crowds at South by Southwest in March. (You’ll find both bands on this year’s ballot.) We have some fine new music venues in the Westport Saloon, the Tank Room and the Broadway Jazz Club. The local-music scene is pulsing with purpose as it hurtles toward a new golden era in Kansas City. Friends, it’s a glorious feeling.
Keeping with the pattern of progression, we’ve made a few changes to The Pitch Music Showcase and Awards. Gone is the sprawling Westport mini-festival of years past. For the 18th annual Pitch Music Showcase, we’ve consolidated venues and spread the festivities out over two weekend nights. The first takes place Saturday on the Riot Room’s two stages. Then we move to Knuckleheads Saloon Friday, July 25, for night two. The awards ceremony remains at the Uptown Theater, hosted this year by 2013 Air Guitar World Champion Eric “Mean” Melin and Mills Record Co. owner Judy Mills.
Another experiment: band selfies. We asked this year’s nominees to send us candid shots — something fun and personal — and caption them for us. Some nominees sent tiny, blurry snapshots with little description. Others submitted a virtual file folder of options with matching diary entries for each photo. And some submissions were a little too intimate for print. Get acquainted yourself on the following pages.
The changes instituted in this year’s event are a reflection of Kansas City’s evolving music community. And as the local music scene continues to expand and cultivate new talent, The Pitch will be there every step of the way.
— Natalie Gallagher
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
(August 2013–June 2014)
Josh Berwanger Band
June 24
“Taking a break at a gas station on drive home from Chicago. Alf and Jar Jar won’t leave me alone.”
My Brothers & Sisters
June 24
“This beautiful family is your future!”
My Oh My
11:30 p.m. May 31, Tank Room
“This pic is from the Tank Room, one of our favorite new spots to play in Kansas City. The mix was great, the owners are super nice, and they’ve got bacon-flavored whiskey, so we were happy. And, as a seven-piece, we always appreciate a stage we can all fit on.
That’s Grant Buell on piano, Corbin Logan on bass, Christin Kuchem-Logan and Sarah Dolt on vocals, Stephen Berry on lead guitar, Jacob Horpinjuk on drums (who you can barely see, but is almost certainly wearing a T-shirt with a picture of his wiener dog on it) and me on guitar and vocals. It looks like this photo was taken during a tasty piano solo, moments before my obnoxious nightly ritual of breaking a string.”
— A.M. Merker, My Oh My
The Pedaljets
“This was towards the end of the evening and SXSW. A great time was had by all (you can tell by the grins). All sorts of legends in attendance. Matt and Rob gave Clem Burke from Blondie a ride back to his hotel.”
Shy Boys
“One of the skills I had to learn and become proficient in is kissing a man. I had never kissed a man. Will Smith did it in his movies, so did Jake Gyllenhaal, and I figured it was my time.”
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EDM/DJ/PRODUCTION
D/Will
December 2013
“Beginning of the creation of what is now The Reset.”
Sheppa
“Quixotic Fusion asked me to travel and play alongside them at this year’s 2014 SXSW (Austin, Texas) at the Doritos #BOLDSTAGE event March 13–16. It was during this time that I was given an opportunity to play a 40-minute set before Lady Gaga’s performance. It was definitely a surreal experience and a fun one. The night before, I took a bunch of her a capellas and cut them up, playing them at random times throughout my set over some deep house, and the crowd ate it up. Good times.”
— Sheppa (Body2Body/Nomath)
Sigrah
“This photo was taken in Austin, Texas, during SXSW at the infamously popular Bass Music venue, Barcelona. My great friend, partner in crime, and former Pitch Awards Best DJ nominee FSTZ and I were playing a DJ set under the name of our collaborative project, Druthers and Drips. This was an incredible night on all levels, and Juke/Footwork music pioneers DJ Spinn and the late DJ Rashad (Teklife till the next life) even came through the venue to say what’s up. It was truly spectacular, and a moment I am sure to remember for the rest of my life.”
(Photo by Kylie Alyssa)
Spinstyles
“Djing DOWNnDURTY in Atlanta.”
Trace Beats
May 20, Riot Room patio
“DJing my weekly party (every Tuesday). More than likely in this pic I was turning the bass knob up.”
EMERGING ACT
Bummer
9:45 p.m. June 17, Bathroom of drummer Thomas Williams
“The Pitch asked us to take a selfie. We did just that. I grabbed the boys, grabbed my camera phone and took a picture.
Thomas and I had just gotten off work. Matt had just taken a nice long nap on his floor. Here at Bummer we love naps. We love sleep.
After this was taken, Thomas went to bed, Matt went home and died, and I went home and watched Suite Life on Deck. We’re probably the most exciting people you’ll ever meet. Probably the cutest, too.”
— Mike Gustafson, Bummer
Burial Teens
“End of Burial Teens Tour. Dr. Loud celebrates with a nap in Iowa City.”
Katy Guillen and the Girls
Des Moines, Iowa
“KG and the Girls are ready for takeoff. Getting it done and having fun!”
(Our friend Steve Sotello took the pic.)
Outsides
“This is from Thursday, June 12, right after practice at my place (Tim). We stepped out to my backyard and had a picnic and pool party to celebrate our first release. Ian (left), Bronson (right), and Ryan (next to me) all looking handsome as usual.”
Psychic Heat
Around 11, April 26
“These were taken by our good friend Emily the night we won Farmers Ball. Last-minute Tanner decided to dress for success.”
FOLK ENSEMBLE
(Country/Blues/Americana)
The Clementines
“This picture was taken on our last night in Austin this past March. We played the MidCoast Takeover at the Shrangri-La two days previous, and this final night was just a huge, booze-filled, live-music-spectating extravaganza.”
Freight Train Rabbit Killer
“Here is Rabbit Killer getting, applying his armor for our show at Mills Records.”
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Kansas City Bear Fighters
5 p.m. June 7
“We had a bit of time to kill before a show that night in Springfield, Missouri, so we decided to take a tour of the ginormous Bass Pro Shop. If you happen to be in the area and are looking for a deal on a crossbow or some Duck Dynasty gear, this is the magical wonderland you’ve been searching for. Seeing as how we were four turds in white suits, sure we got a few stares, but also a few high-fives.”
— Sean McCue, Kansas City Bear Fighters
Loaded Goat
“Loaded Goat pictured here in their natural habitat.”
Truckstop Honeymoon
“It’s a shot taken in the Garden of the Gods on a recent Colorado tour.”
FOLK SOLO
(Country/Blues/Americana)
Billy Beale
“Billy Beale after a night of slide-guitar slingin’ with the County Graves out of Carbondale, Illinois. Billy goes on tour as a solo act as well as a hired gun with CG this September in support of his new solo, full-length album Hard Time on Little Class Records.”
Samantha Fish
June 19
“Samantha Fish (@samanthafishmusic) @ Jazz in June (Norman, Oklahoma)”
A.J. Gaither
April 19, Lookout Mountain, Colorado
“Taking a break from the windshield.”
Kasey Rausch
“Music and trains … the story of my life …”
Not pictured:
Tyler Gregory
HARDEST-WORKING ACT
Making Movies
“Juan-Carlos and I [Enrique Chi] are midinterview in KKFI’s studio for their long-running Spanish rock program Rompiendo la Oscuridad with Jorge Taboada. They’ve supported us for five years, so at this point the interview felt more like a chat with an old friend. We were laughing after realizing that Taboada met his girlfriend five years ago at an early Making Movies show. Having the reputation as “Cupids” doesn’t seem like a bad deal at all.”
Schwervon
“Hardest-working band Schwervon lounging in the backyard.”
Victor & Penny
May
“Here we are in Mesa, Arizona, at Lost Dutchman State Park. That’s famous Superstition Mountain in the background. This picture was snapped moments after wrapping our new video for “So Nice to Come Home To,” which we haven’t released yet. Shooting a music video in the desert for the first time was one of our favorite road moments ever!”
Not pictured:
Hearts of Darkness
HIP-HOP/RAP
The Abnorm
“At Marcus Yates album-release party (a.k.a. Oobergeek) doing what I do best, freestyling in the cypher. I believe this was right before my group, Yawn Johnson, performed that night.”
Approach
May 2
“This is a silly selfie of me working in my home studio (Prosidio Gardens). I am in the process of mixing/releasing an instrumental album titled SweetKnuckleJunction Season 2. I took a moment to give you a peek inside my world and take a picture with my trusty ASR-10 (the sweet keyboard I have my fingers on).
Gee Watts
“Gee performing life. I like to call it the reincarnation pose (lol). He does it at all his shows. Fan actually took this at a show.”
Reggie B
“Me in the lab/bedroom doing what I do best!!! Keeping the funk alive!!”
Stik Figa
7:45 p.m. May 28, in an anonymous field north of Topeka
“This was taken on my buddy’s smartphone during a video shoot for a song off my latest EP, The Pookey Tape. Which song, you may ask? You’ll have to wait and see.”
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JAZZ ENSEMBLE
Chris Hazelton’s Boogaloo 7
“Having the every-Friday residency at the Green Lady Lounge has really helped us build a bigger repertoire, grow tighter as a band, and build a following. Also having a chance to hang at YJ’s at 3 a.m. after the gig with the guys has been fun.”
Eddie Moore and the Outer Circle
“Playing at Shane Evans’ spot for the kids.”
Peter Schlamb Quintet
“This was taken at Prairie Lights Books on tour in Iowa City, IA, on my birthday last February. I’m enjoying a Houndstooth — a specialty combining two of my favorite drinks, espresso and beer. It actually tastes amazing there (but not when you try to make your own other places). I’m joined by writer Russell Jaffe (center) and keyboardist Wade Ridenhour (right).”
Project H
11:30 p.m. May 3, 2013, RecordBar
“In this photo, Jeff Stocks play a guitar solo during our Beck ‘Song Reader’ concert. The horns look on in amazement, and apparently discomfort.”
Not pictured:
Eboni and the Ivories
JAZZ SOLO
Megan Birdsall
“T.J. Martley, piano, and myself at an outdoor house show.”
Shay Estes
“The Ship, 2013, with Fado Novato”
Brett Jackson
“The Brett Jackson Quartet has its debut performance at the Green Lady Lounge. The group, featuring Chris Hazelton on organ, Matt Hopper on guitar and Kevin “Sprinkles” Frazee on drums, plays the fourth Thursday of every month at the club.
(Photo by Aaron Linscheid)
Hermon Mehari
“From sometime last year on a gig at the Kill Devil Club. I was playing with vocalist Dave Stephens, and there was a ’20s and ’30s gangster theme. Just an example of the variety of situations being a full-time musician can put you in!!!”
Matt Otto
“The color one is from the Gem Theater a few years back.”
LIVE ACT
Jorge Arana Trio
3:45 p.m. November 15, 2013
Knoxville, Tennessee
“Chillin’ on a rooftop. Right to left: Jorge, Jason, Chaski, Cole, Josh. We were on tour in the fall and brought our good friend Chaski Dye to play violin. Got into Knoxville early in the morning, so we got to kick back before playing that night. Here we pose for a picture with our gracious host, Cole, on his rooftop.”
The Conquerors
1 a.m. June 19
“Conquerors freak out at Chez Charlie’s.”
Radkey
“Selfie from across the pond!”
The New Riddim
8:52 p.m. May 30
“At the spot in the yard after jams, before chow. Taken by Bill, the random contractor building a porch next door.”
Not pictured:
Metatone
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METAL
Hellevate
February 21
“Label Cycles in Kansas City, Missouri”
Marasmus
“Recording guitars at our home studio for the new Marasmus album due out this fall!!!!! Before this picture was taken, we had just finished working as a group on writing the lyrical content that inspired the guitar parts. Our new album is a concept album about paranormal activity and things such as ghosts, body-snatching living victims to use for killing sprees. We had some drinks and watched some spooky ghost movies beforehand to set the mood for writing the lyrics and guitar parts. The rest was up to our imaginations to run wild and take it from there.”
Troglodyte
June 22
“New masks and some mask repair after tour.”
(Photo by Sisson)
Not pictured:
At the Left Hand of God
Stonehaven
PUNK
The Bad Ideas
Ashville, North Carolina
“The Bad Ideas out front of Static Age Records the day after an in-store.”
(Photo by Jesse McSwain, owner of the record store)
The Big Iron
“Playing the grand opening of Vandals!”
(Photo by Tod Zimmer)
Black on Black
10:47 p.m. June 13, in the ;basement practice space out in the country near Lawrence
“Aaron Riffel (left), Jason Jones (center), Wade Kelly (right) rehearsing songs to be released on the new record scheduled for a fall 2014 release.”
Lazy
3:30 a.m. March 4
“After a show at the Replay Lounge”
The Sluts
“This photo was taken June 9 on the front porch of the Jackpot Saloon and Music Hall during a deluge. We had been working on dressing up our sound and wanted to test it out on some drunk people, so we were doing an extremely early (and wet) sound check for our Lawrence Field Day show at the bar. One of our victims took the pic.”
REGIONAL
(Beyond KC/Lawrence)
Dots Not Feathers
“Outside of playing music together, we’re about as tightknit as possible. This picture was taken outside of Blank Space on Cherokee Street in St. Louis before a show. We showed up about two hours earlier than necessary so we could all hang out, eat pizza and figure out what we were doing afterwards. Most shows and hangouts end with us back at Stephen, Ryan and Nick’s place playing Super Smash Bros. until 2 a.m.”
Eyelit
March 12
“This is Austin and Dansare of Eyelit. This photo was taken on March 12 in Austin, Texas, at the MidCoast Takeover showcase at Shangri-La. It was a gorgeous sunny day. Everyone enjoyed their mini vacation by walking around downtown and taking in the sights and sounds.”
Ha Ha Tonka
“This pic was taken of us last month, just after we’d boarded an Airberlin jet to cross the Atlantic Ocean to begin our European tour. I believe we’d just been informed that the drinks would be free on the flight.”
Me Like Bees
“We were playing for the Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands Final Showcase that night and needed to take a picture in front of the landmark venue, being our first time playing in California. There was no one around to take a picture for us, so we took our only selfie as a band. We then went to lunch across the street, where Luke rode a mechanical bull, was awarded copious amounts of cotton candy, played the show and won the 2013 Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands.”
— Timothy Cote
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
10 a.m. March 17
“We were on tour in Berlin and had some time to do some sightseeing. We drove past Checkpoint Charlie and noticed David Hasselhoff was posing with some fake Cold War soldiers. We jumped out of the moving van and started taking pictures. He was shaking our guitarist’s (Will Knauer’s) hand when this photo was snapped. I (Philip Dickey) sensed it was the photo opportunity of a lifetime. I’ll never have to change my Facebook profile again. Also: Our van broke down on the way to Hamburg later that day.”
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ROCK/POP
Cowboy Indian Bear
12 p.m., Practice Space, Lawrence
“Our air conditioner hasn’t been working very well at our practice space, so we were all really sweaty and gross, but it’s so wonderful to get sweaty and gross while you are creating and doing what you love with people you love.”
Not a Planet
“Feeling like superheroes on top of the Jersey skyline.”
Rev Gusto
11:57 p.m. November 9, 2013, in the basement of Jerry (guitarist, songwriter) and Sam Frederick (bassist)
“We took this picture after practice; it is the only Rev Gusto selfie in existence. The reasons behind the selfie are still unknown to this day.”
— Quinn Hernandez
Spirit Is the Spirit
“So this picture was taken after a rather damp band practice on a rainy Monday night in June. My basement had flooded almost to Life of Pi proportions, and we were all glad we had made it through relatively dry. Josh (keyboards, trombone) even rescued a tiger from the sinking ship. And while Austen (vocals, rhythm guitar) was preparing to ask a lady friend to go steady with him, I was just a bit perturbed that it wasn’t about me.”
— Brook, bass, trumpet
Various Blonde
“Photo shoot for a 3-D printing studio opening in Leawood this summer (#freeexposure #tigerstyle #variousblonde #letitdo #minime #actionfigures).”
SINGER-SONGWRITER
Akkilles
April
“David Bennett of Akkilles working at his home studio.”
John Velghe
Around January 29, Kansas City, Missouri
“In the fall of 2013, Alejandro [Escovedo] and I were talking, and he asked me what was going on with the band. I told him we were getting ready to go record a new album. His response was, ‘So what am I playing on it?’ Taken back a bit with the offer-cum-self-invitation, I responded, ‘Whatever you want.’ A couple months later, in the throes of a KC winter, he flew up from a warm Austin, Texas, and spent a few days tracking guitars and vocals and slagging on the Royals.
This shot is of us working out “‘Gold Guitar,’ probably at a point where he’s telling me ‘it shouldn’t go like that but like this.’ Because he’s a pro, he charged a session fee. Because he’s my friend (and a man of fashion), the fee was a new pair of sunglasses.”
(Photo by J. Winn)
La Guerre
8 p.m. in a park, Lawrence
“When I feel a song coming on, I’ll force myself outside to write in a new(ish) environment where I have some privacy and can sing my ideas out loud. Sometimes I don’t hear people coming by, and they probably think I’m crazy. … I’ve definitely done crazier things than stuff myself into a slide to get alone time.”
Mat Shoare
October 2013
“The photo was taken by me sitting at my piano in my house. I was working on a recording for a cover of the song ‘Guilty’ by Randy Newman. I was planning to finish the recording and release it as a free download at some point. I thought this picture could go with it. Either way, I never ended up finishing the recording or releasing anything. But the picture is still cool and reminds me of that great song.”
Your Friend
8 p.m. June 5
“This is a candid photo of me goofing off before load-in at the Green Lantern in Lexington, Kentucky. I remember it being one of the nicer nights on tour because I could wear my jacket.”
