Friday The 13th : Basement Tapes on USTREAM

A Nice night of testing and working out the kinks. Here's a short set of high energy jamming, served up McLovins style. Looks as though everything is set for the 1 year anniversary broadcast, hopefully this will keep you satisfied until then.





The McLovins recorded Live on USTREAM

The Lake And The Lion

I was poking through the e-mail today, and Carol had sent me a copy of the poster for the upcoming Keene State show on the 21st. I had been meaning to check out the opening act, The Lake And The Lion and so I hopped on Facebook and was very surprised by what I found. Fronted by Lead vocalist and guitarist George Barber, the band has currently 7 members, Morgan Little on Guitar, Andrew Hodgdon on Cello, Chris Clark on Drums, Joe McConaughy on Viola, Dave Sudhalter on Keys & Accordion and Sunshine Rand on Bass. I loved their Arcade Fire cover and I hear a bit of The Low Anthem and the alt-country of Wilco in their music. I could only find a couple of their clips on YouTube, but I really enjoy what I see and hear.

So get your butt up to Keene State College next weekend to support The McLovins, and get ready to enjoy what I'm sure will be a great opening set. I can't wait to get a chance to spend a little time with this band up @ Keene and I'm really excited to see them live. Here's the video for their cover of Arcade Fire's Wake Up, instantly familiar to anyone who's been near a television for the past couple months. Extra credit to the band for listing "M. Ward" and "The Swell Season" as influences..

Here's a link to George Barber's Myspace page, he has couple more very lovely songs there for you to peruse.

George Barber Myspace

Themclovins.com!!

The band just launched their own website, check it out for all your McLovins needs and wants!

TheMcLovins.com

Happy Birthday Jason!

The McLovins Live at WPKN Studio on 5/03/09

Next up for the band is a return appearance on the Morning Maniac Music show, for a Sunday brunch show on 11/15/09. To quote host David Golden " The guiding philosophy is "mostly instrumental, mainly jazz," but that doesn't rule out any style. From jazz to jambands, raga to prog rock. Some conversations with guests." I'd like to re-vist the McLovins first appearance on David's show from Sunday 5/03/09. Now the archive on this show lists the date as 5/08/09, but the Facebook listing and the original station archive have the show occurring on 5/03/09, so I'll err on the side of caution and go with this date.


I've listened to this show many times, and I love how David deals with and interacts with the band. Most interviewers seem not to be able to get over the age factor and this limits the range and scope of the interview. David hits the age topic right off the bat and then just dives into the important thing, the music. The band sounds as though they are having a great time, the music is sharp and crisp with the Dynne, Bri and YEM performances coming off especially well. The show was engineered and recorded by Dave Schwartz and the sound is spot on.


David archived this show in loss-less SHN format for downloading, and in MP3 for the stream. Crank this one up if you haven't heard it yet, this is a hot show and a taste of what to expect when they return to Bridgeport on the 15th, come down early and be a part of the studio audience.

Live on WPKN's Sunday Brunch Concert.

1. Introduction
2. Jam
3. Purple Trees
4. Sea of Wisdom
5. Interview
6. Dynne
7. Guillotine Machine
8. Bri (in memory of)
9. Interview
10. You Enjoy Myself

Thanks to David you can download the show in the SHN loss-less format WPKN Mclovins 05-03-09

The Red Square Albany, NY 10/29/09

Last night it was time to move a little further south along the Hudson, down from the funky city of Troy to the Capital city of Albany. The Red Square is a nice club located in a nice brick building down by the river. Performing on a low-stage decorated with an amazing Great Pumpkin carved by fan Jeannette Olsen, the band seemed quite at home among the close quarters. The show kicks off with a nice bluesy jam featuring a thick Thrill is Gone-ish feel and after warming up they punch into Deep Monster Trance. This is one of their newer songs and this ode to the all things wild percolates with a deliberate groove until diving into the wild rumpus. Jeff kept running a series of ‘The Simpson’s” teases with Jake growling out his lyrics. The vocal mike kept acting up during this and the next couple songs, leading to even more energetic drumming from Jake. Shakedown Street is one of the more favored covers and leads to an expansive jam in the second half, Jake and Jason trade vocals during the song and the jam in the middle just erupts and any resemblance to the original song is just coincidental by the time they jump back into the chorus. Sea of Wisdom sees the mike problems easing a bit and playing a clean and crisp version of this song, very sweet and melodic.

Steve H called the next tune, 20 In A 35 which is the freshest of the new songs and the guys just tore this up. With no hint of the previous vocal problems, Jake nailed this one while Jason and Jeff dueled back and forth throughout the song. This really raised the energy level of the show, the band pouring it out to the crowd and the crowd responding. Virtual Circle followed and continued down the path blazed by the previous song, with Jeff repeatedly teasing “I Kissed A Girl” the song quickly escalates out of control spiraling upward for a few minutes before stopping on a dime and landing back in the chorus. Killing Time starts out so soft and melodic and ends up an unyielding force of nature, a sonic wave rolling over the frenzied audience who push the band ever on. This second half of the set, from 20 In A 35 shows the band in full control of the music, able to do as they please. Jake cool and breezy on the mike, Jason stomping all over the place running leads and clamoring rhythm and Jeff putting on a clinic in the use and abuse of lead guitar. Purple Trees is the anthemic signature piece for the band and has become the place for the band introductions. Jake leads the crowd in ovations for Jason, himself and Jeff, leading to a wind-down of the show.

Shorter shows such as these are bittersweet, a short, sharp, shock …a chance to get your McLovins fix. Akin to a brief repast, it is nourishing but not satisfying. These gigs are necessary to growth, if you are building a scene you need to be able to pop in and play the show and come back a month later and do it again. A very good show but if something was lacking, I think it was the missing 2^nd set as they were just getting warmed up. A shout-out to all you McLovinators who showed up, Barry & Holly, Steve, Aimee & Scott, Jeannette & Kurt and Brock. The support given to this band is amazing and you all are a special part of the McLovins family.

Cabbage Night

Off to Red Square In Albany,
Remember to plan your jams!

Great Pumpkin awesomeness by Jeannette Olsen

Linus & Lucy - Flatbread 5/28/09