THE KNICKERBOCKER MUSIC CENTER
35 Railroad Avenue, Westerly, RI 02891 (Misquamicut) | (401) 315-5070
Closed Today
The club thrived as one of the leading entertainment centers in southern New England, hosting regional and national bands with an emphasis on the blues. Some of the greats that played on the Knickerbocker stage included, Big Joe Turner, Albert Collins, Johnny Copeland, Johnny Nicholas, Leon Russell, Eric Burdon and Stevie Ray Vaughan. In 1967, Roomful of Blues was born in Westerly, when guitarist Duke Robillard and pianist Al Copley started a band that played tough, no-holds barred Chicago blues. Making the Knickerbocker Café their home club, it did not take long before they started exploring swinging, jumping blues and added a horn section. Roomful would pack the house every Sunday and still plays their great brand of blues today.
Fast forward and the Café has become the Knickerbocker Music Center, a non-profit organization formed in partnership with the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra & Music School. The mission of the Knickerbocker Music Center is to preserve, cultivate and grow the “Knick’s” unique brand of blues, as well as expanding access to music of all genres, by transforming the Knick into both an exciting performance venue and an exceptional center for music education.
Wild Sun
9pm
Saturday, July 27, 2019 at 9:00pm
The Knickerbocker Music Center. 35 Railroad Avenue, Westerly, RI 02891
Live Music
“Closed Door Talks” Album Release show.
On their new LP Closed Door Talks, Rhode Island’s own Wild Sun has honed their engaging, guitar-forward Rock & Roll to a keen edge. Full of heart and free of post-modern irony, Closed Door Talks is crisp, refreshingly rough around the edges, and feels immediately familiar. The follow up to their Bryce Goggin-produced (Pavement, Phish), debut LP Little Truths, the record finds the band elevating their art with a new emphasis on focused, thoughtful playing, while retaining the minimally-arranged, song-first approach to songwriting that has become their signature.
Little Truths, released in the fall of 2015 via American Laundromat Records, was well received; it broke the Top 200 at college radio, and Motif Magazine placed it in their “Top 20” of the year, alongside Wilco and Kendrick Lamar. In April of 2016, the band released the two-song Rigby EP, once again working with Bryce Goggin. As their profile continued to grow, the band had the opportunity to play hundreds of shows and share the stage with the likes of Eve 6, Blitzen Trapper, Rubblebucket, Langhorne Slim, and more, and were featured on the Elliott Smith tribute, Say Yes, among artists like J Mascis, Julien Baker, and Amanda Palmer.
“When it came time for a new record, we stopped playing shows for a while” explains vocalist / guitar player and primary songwriter Glenn Thomas. Instead of the usual process of writing followed by recording, the band took a different tack. Posting up at The Mercury Floor recording studio in Stonington, CT when the muse struck, the nearly year-long process of on and off recording let the band refine the music, pairing the songs down to their essential core. “We decided to stretch out the process. To let the songs breathe, and take on their own musical narrative” says Thomas; “an opposed to banging it out in one quick week.”
Joining Thomas, Paul Fazio and Cameron Raubeson from Little Truths returned to play bass and drums on the album, with additional drums by Paul’s brother Padriac and Thomas. Thomas handled all guitar and vocal duties. Tracking complete, the record was delivered to Bryce Goggin for mixing and Joe Lambert (The National) for mastering.
Written with deliberate intent, in a small town within a tiny state, the music on Closed Door Talks feels close and comfortable while speaking to the universal. “These are not forlorn whiskey love songs of the south, or road songs of the west,” explains Thomas, “rather struggles a friend might confide in a run-down dive bar in whatever town you might find yourself.”
In an age where most present a polished version of their life to world through social media, Closed Door Talks brings the listener behind the curtain and into a place where real life happens. These are the conversations between friends and lovers, shared among trusted ears, out of the public eye. “I think one of the greatest things a song can do is put into words something you felt but were never able to express” says Thomas. “That moment reinforces what connects us, and what it is to be human — both the good and the bad.
Show: 9p | Doors: 8p
Tickets: $10 ($2 Service Charge Included With Online Tickets. All sales are final, no ticket refunds or exchanges. Seats are on a first-come, first-serve basis, and seats are not guaranteed with ticket purchase.)
Visit Website: http://wildsunusa.com
