With two days until Flying Dog’s second Summer Sessions concert, we felt it was a good idea to give you one last video of Lucero this week to mull as you get ready for some rawk (with a W) and roll on the brewery’s front lawn. Thus, check out this performance of “When I Was Young” from Ardent Studios. Remember: You have about 14 and a half hours left to enter our free ticket giveaway. All you have to do is like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter. Don’t forget that 100 times out of 100, free is better than not free. Again: Free, friends, is better than not free.
Note: The below story was written by Cassandra Mullinix. You can check out all the great stuff she has going down on her Facebook page, or, if you’re so inclined, you could follow her on Twitter. For those who might want to check out Brooks Long And The Mad Dog No Good this weekend as they open for Lucero at Flying Dog, there’s still one day left to enter our giveaway!
“Ain’t Never Had A Good Time” is the title of Brooks Long and The Mad Dog No Good’s latest single and maybe you have never had a good time until you’ve had the chance to groove into the night with all the soul sparkle of Motown and Stax wrapped up in this Baltimore-born band. Named 2012’s D.C./Baltimore’s “Best Emerging Artist” by The Deli Magazine, receiving regular airplay on the iconic Towson University radio station WTMD, and being known as a contributing fixture in the Baltimore artist community, Brooks Long and The Mad Dog No Good are very serious about delivering a good time.
Brooks Long was more than happy to do a little meet and greet with us recently in preparation for the upcoming Flying Dog Summer Sessions concert series show Saturday with Lucero. Long is often coined as “vintage” – and he certainly takes a lot from his idols – but his approach is just as fresh as Justin Bieber cologne. His love affair with music began when he was a child. Growing up on the west side of Baltimore, he became an audiophile of past music icons to avoid negative distractions on the streets around him.
“I don’t want to be vintage for the sake of being vintage,” Long explained. “I hope that whatever we are doing holds up on its own with whatever is going on now. To be honest, I hope it’s better than whatever is going on now. And I hope it’s better than anything that’s ever come out. The goal is to learn from the past and embrace it. Not let it box you in, but let it free you up.”
That statement sounds a little gutsy for an emerging artist, but Long has surrounded himself with accomplished and mostly local artists in his genre to create a strong foundation for his claim.
“More recently, I’m in this apprenticeship program with the Maryland traditional arts council and The Holmes Brothers,” he said. “Wendell Holmes is my master and I’m his apprentice. He’s been really encouraging and really educational about where I’m trying to go because where I’m trying to go, he’s already been.”
Long also spoke frequently of the impact that Baltimore-based band Old Man Brown has had on him since his early solo days in 2010.
“Old Man Brown, another great local band,” he noted. “They don’t play as much as they used to, but they were very active and they were very influential in me getting the idea that I could do the style that I am doing now and that people would actually come check it out. I saw them in Fells Point [2008] doing some great straight-up soul music and I was like ‘You can do that and people will stay?'”
Adam Scott-Wakefield, of Old Man Brown, was actually featured on the single “Ain’t Never Had A Good Time.” He was joined by Jasmine Pope of J Pope and Funk Friday, and Jenny Leigh, an aspiring Nashville artist with roots in Frederick. Another big supporter of Long when he returned to Baltimore after college to start his music career was James Carter, the drummer for the late Teddy Pendergrass, who eventually started his own solo project.
“Local musicians, there is a lot going on,” Long said. “The really cool thing is that for the most part, everybody knows each other in the Baltimore music scene. There’s a lot of different things going on, but we are all struggling in the same way.”
He described himself as “first and foremost a song-writing guy,” and said he began writing music when he was 13.
“I love and I’m most interested in song structure, melody and lyrics,” he explained. “That’s my meat and potatoes right there.”
It took a while – 2010 to be exact – for him to start showcasing his original material, though it didn’t take long for him to want to “start electrifying and adding some rhythmic jump to these acoustic songs” he had been working on. That’s when he reached out to bass player Ian Trusheim, a long time friend, bandmate, and college alumni, to form Brooks Long and The Mad Dog No Good in 2011.
“Ian, who has been my right hand man for forever, was on board, and then we linked up with Dan Samuels,” Long said. “Dan, we knew from the band J Pope and The Funk Friday. Since that, we’ve been focusing more and more on the Brooks Long and The Mad Dog No Good.”
Together, the band has released an EP, “Let’s Make Out To Otis Redding,” and three singles, including a Christmas single and “Ain’t Never Had A Good Time.” Releasing singles and EPs instead of full albums might give the impression that Brooks Long and The Mad Dog No Good can’t deliver, but that’s not the case – the band actually has some progressive thinking behind their approach.
“I think the whole industry is coming to this realization,” he said. “This is how it use to be back in the day. Back in the day, every couple of months, you put out a new single and after a while, you had enough good material that you put it all together with a couple of new things and it was an album.”
The goal for Brooks Long and the band is to “work song by song and make sure we’ve got this one song really good, then put that out, and then eventually put everything out on an album called ‘Greatest Hits,’” the band’s leader said before adding, “You’re taking key songs from different projects and putting them together, so it’s got a cool vibe, but a diverse sound.”
In the band, Long showcases his addictively un-cumbersome, often humorous songwriting and deep appreciation of iconic R&B and soul artists to make Brooks Long and The Mad Dog No Good something special among other new wave soul revivalists.
“I guess I’ve learned a lot about the similarities and differences between Motown and Stax, The Beatles and Rolling Stones, Prince and Michael Jackson, Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry,” Long recalled about how he developed his song writing style. “I like when people are funny or at least have a little bit of a sense of humor.”
The comical aspects in life’s idiosyncrasies are something that is prevalent in Long’s songwriting and lends well to the have-a-good-time feel of the band. Citing some of his favorite artists who use humor, Long said “Randy Newman used humor to deal with serious big question subjects, and Prince used his humor to talk about sexual things. Then [Amy Winehouse] used it to laugh at herself, and that’s something that I picked up on. Cody Chesnutt – he’s someone that I try to champion as much as possible, also.”
Brooks Long told us that he is a Flying Dog Raging Bitch brew and George Forman-steak-grilling kind of guy. We suggest both with your paring of live music this Saturday. As his band’s latest single, “Ain’t Never Had A Good Time,” says, “Come on out/We’re having a party!”
Today’s photo comes from Flying Dog’s Facebook page and features JJ Grey on the brewery’s front lawn last month. Why? Because it serves as a good reminder that the second installment of Flying Dog’s Summer Sessions concert series takes place this Saturday and features Lucero and Brooks Long and the Mad Dog No Good. There’s still time left to enter our two-ticket giveaway for the weekend’s show, so as they say on late-night infomercials: Act now!
Today’s Video Of The Day? Of course, we’re going with Lucero, who is set to perform at Flying Dog this Saturday as part of their Summer Sessions concert series. The song? “Texas & Tennessee,” as performed by Ben and Rick. Remember, there’s still time snatch up two free tickets to Saturday’s show by entering our contest. Last month’s installment featuring JJ Grey and Mofro sold out, so you don’t want to be one of the people missing out on all the great fun, music and beer that Saturday will surely offer. Don’t forget that you have only two more days to land those tickets, so before you get your Tuesday started, have a look at the video, check out the giveaway, eat a banana, and think about coming to say hello to us on Saturday!
This Saturday is the second of four Summer Sessions concerts that Flying Dog Brewery is hosting here in Frederick, and this time around, the fine people over there are bringing Lucero and Books Long And The Mad Dog No Good to their front lawn. You can buy tickets here if you’d like, though if you’d rather take a shot at winning two freebies, Frederick Playlist is the place to be. How do you enter? Well, as you’ll see below, all you have to do is like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter. That’s it. That’s the list. If you do both, you get two entries, and if you have already done either of those things, you’re entitled to an entry, of course – all you have to do is click through the menu in the contest block below, follow the directions, and we’ll hook you right up. The contest ends Thursday and on Friday, we’ll be getting in touch with you, if you happen to be the lucky winner. Now, who says Frederick Playlist doesn’t love you?! WHO, WE ASK?! WHO?!
Anyway, good luck to all, and check back here through the week as we get you ready for Saturday’s fantastically fantastic show. Remember: JJ Grey and Mofro sold the thing out last month. You wouldn’t want to be sitting on the outside looking in, now would you?
As we mentioned yesterday, if you come say hello to us at any of the Flying Dog concerts this summer, you will be all but guaranteed a spot somewhere on this, here, website. Thus after chatting with a member of the Bats Dynamic String Band last Saturday, we present to you a live performance of the group’s “Down In This Place.” You can catch them performing at any of these upcoming events in and around the Frederick area through the summer and judging by our quick talk last weekend, you won’t want to miss these guys if you get a chance to check them out. And just think: All this came from a tiny “Hello!”
All right. So, who was with us this weekend at Flying Dog’s Summer Sessions kick-off featuring JJ Grey and Mofro, as well as Thomas Wynn and The Believers? There were so many noteworthy, awesome-tastically awesome things that went down, so we decided that a good, old-fashioned Five Things was warranted. So, right after you head on over to check out our Twitter and Facebook pages, how about we get to a tiny recap of all the festivities? Sound good? Good.
1. First and foremost, a great, big, giant-sized, sloppy-wet-kiss THANK YOU to all of you who stopped by our table to chat. We have a brand-new shipment of beer koozies on the way (again: So, so, so sorry we ran out before Thomas Wynn even left the stage!), and while the free fans we were handing out might not have seemed practical (or dry; stupid wind blowing over and spilling stupid cups of stupid water), we promise they will come in handy in the coming weeks as the humidity turns up and the outdoors refuses to pay its air-conditioning bill again. We are going to make Frederick a go-to place for live, great original music, gosh darn-it, and simply being afforded the opportunity to get out and explain how much of a music town we truly, really, madly, deeply are at such a great event was a luxury we most certainly did not (and do not) take for granted. So, thank you Flying Dog. And thank you music lovers. From the bottom of our bottomest hearts. OK. The mushy romantic music can cease right … about … now.
2. Boy, do people like their JJ Grey and Mofro. The show sold out on Saturday and you could tell: From the front of the stage, all the way back to the beer truck, the Flying Dog front lawn was packed to the brim with dancers, drinkers, lovers and shakers. At one point, a Mofro die-hard stopped by to wonder aloud why they would play such a small venue because “JJ Grey and Mofro could sell out 50-60,000-seaters down South.” We internally rolled our eyes at the obvious hyperbole, but after digesting the reaction those guys received upon taking the stage, it made that statement seem … well, not so hyperbolic. Between the chanting, the hooting and the hollering, the Flying Dog grounds felt like its own little city, if only for a night.
3. And it wasn’t as though the masses were there only to see the headliner, either. We had the chance to catch up with Thomas Wynn between sets, and he couldn’t have been kinder, thanking us multiple times for the coverage we gave the band in anticipation of the show last week. Then, in a tiny moment of irony, it wasn’t long after our talk that a concertgoer approached us about how he wished Mr. Wynn and his Believers could have extended their set by at least 10 more songs. Indeed, if you got there late, you missed out – those who came early discovered their new favorite band Saturday night. Better yet? It was well-deserved. Super-nice guy. Super-talented group. Super-great set. Super-tired of reading the word “Super,” aren’t you? Me, too.
4. We can’t stress this enough, but again: If you approach us, and you have a band, and you want to get your stuff out there, simply just say the word. Face-Page us. Twitter us. Or, if it comes down to it, say hello at one of these Flying Dog shows this summer and give us a business card. We say that why? Because that’s exactly what someone in Bats Dynamic String Band did on Saturday. We’ll have a video of them tomorrow for our usual Tuesday Video Of The Day feature, but for now, go check them out on Facebook and tell ’em Frederick Playlist sent you!
5. Winner. Winner. Chicken. Dinner. It was an utter delight to meet Ms. Ysela Schwetje, the winner of our ticket giveaway we staged last week! Along with the lovely Clair Mixon, it was great to see the fruits of our contest labor realized in human form. Which leads us to remind you all one more time: We’ll be giving away a pair of tickets for each of the remaining three Flying Dog shows this summer. Be sure to check back before July 19, when Lucero and Brooks Long & The Mad Dog No Good will be taking the stage for the second of Flying Dog’s summer slate. You never know what goodies we may be offering!
All right. The time is upon us, friends. After a week’s worth of hype, JJ Grey and Mofro along with Thomas Wynn and the Believers are coming to town on Saturday. That highlights this week’s weekend guide to music in and around the Frederick area. If you haven’t done it yet, don’t forget that you can still enter to win two free tickets to the show at Flying Dog (we’ll be getting in touch if you happen to be the lucky winner). For those looking to get the weekend started just a little earlier than that, Alive @ Five has some pretty neat ska and reggae going down on the creek as we speak while the sweet bluegrass of ClearSpring will be floating through the air at Beans In The Belfry later on this evening. As for tomorrow night, J.J. Rupp is set to bring the country to Champion Billiards while Paul Ivey is cooking up some acoustic-ness at the Hard Times Cafe. All of that will serve as a great appetizer for Saturday’s main event at Flying Dog Brewery. We’ll be there, so if you see us, drop by and say hello – we’re always looking to make new friends!
THURSDAY
Who: Alive @ Five featuring Evokatones
Where: Carroll Creek
When: 5 p.m.
Who: ClearSpring
Where: Beans In The Belfry
When: 7 p.m.
Who: Jazz Jam
Where: Jekyll & Hyde Restaurant & Tavern
When: 7:30 p.m.
Who: Michael Delalla
Where: The Hill Chapel
When: 7:30 p.m.
Who: Open Mic
Where: Bushwallers
When: Sign-up at 9 p.m., play begins at 10 p.m.
Who: Girls Night Out
Where: Jo Jo’s Tap House
When: 8 p.m.
Who: Chris Compton
Where: The Cellar Door
When: 8 p.m.
FRIDAY
Who: Slimm Hefnah, Tricky Dice, Skylyne Models
Where: Cafe 611
When: 8 p.m.
Who: Michael Scoglio Duo
Where: Bushwallers
When: 10 p.m.
Who: Safe Harbor
Where: Ayse Meze Lounge
When: 7 p.m.
Who: Kabob-O-Taj
Where: The Cellar Door
When: 10 p.m.
Who: Chris Cogott, Dan McGuire
Where: The Bentz Street Raw Bar
When: Cogott, 6 p.m.; McGuire, 9 p.m.
Who: Cumberland Valley Duo
Where: Beans In The Belfry
When: 7 p.m.
Who: Chris Smaha
Where: The Reunion
When: 8 p.m.
Who: Paul Ivey
Where: Hard Times Cafe
When: 9 p.m.
Who: J.J. Rupp
Where: Champion Billiards
When: 9 p.m.
SATURDAY
Who: JJ Grey & Mofro; Thomas Wynn And The Believers
Where: Flying Dog Brewery
When: 6:30 p.m.
Who: Secondhand Ramblers
Where: Jo Jo’s Tap House
When: 9 p.m.
Who: Doe The Beat King, Ari & Aleyna, Scufa, Jnyce, Zay Gunna, Reign Cannons, Chase Paper Music
Where: Cafe 611
When: 8 p.m.
Who: Super Famous
Where: Bushwallers
When: 10 p.m.
Who: Lucy
Where: The Cellar Door
When: 10 p.m.
Who: Chris Cogott
Where: The Bentz Street Raw Bar
When: 9 p.m.
Who: Craggy Island
Where: Beans In The Belfry
When: 7 p.m.
Who: Prophets
Where: Brewer’s Alley
When: 8 p.m.
Who: The Bodine Brothers
Where: The Reunion
When: 8 p.m.
Who: C9
Where: The Main Cup
When: 8:30 p.m.
Who: Liz Springer and the Built 4 Comfort Band
Where: Hard Times Cafe
When: 9 p.m.
Who: Rebel Radio
Where: Champion Billiards
When: 9 p.m.
Who: Everise
Where: Olde Towne Tavern
When: 10 p.m.
Who: Kabob-O-Taj, The Knolly Moles, Plaeground, Dripping Wet, Nicky C and the RSB, Sol Frequency
Where: The Circuit, Essex
When: Noon
As you might have learned by now, Thomas Wynn and the Believers are opening the kick-off to Flying Dog’s Summer Sessions concert series this Saturday when they open for JJ Grey and Mofro. Earlier this week, Wynn, himself, was kind enough to exchange a few emails for a Q&A. And because it was mighty kind of him to do so, we thought it’d be mighty kind of us to let you know what he had to say. So, right after you go enter our contest, giving away two free tickets to the show, how about you cozy up and learn just a tad more about one of the artists set to appear this weekend? Sound good? Good.
You were voted Best Rock Band in Orlando for a handful of years recently. What’s the rock scene in Orlando like? Any great bands we should know about up north?
The rock scene in Orlando is actually pretty diverse and abundant. We have a number of great bands in most genres. We got The Legendary JC’s, Fat Night and The Sh’booms that hold down the soul and Gargamel and Junkie Rush are killer heavy bands. The Supervillains and Paddington Ambush are ska/raggae. The Attack and Flunks are great punk bands. Shak Nasti and Holy Miss Moly are excellent jam and funk outfits while Hannah Harber and Matthew Fowler are wonderful singer songwriters. Honestly, I could keep going and name more and more. Orlando loves live music.
Have you ever been to the Frederick area before? If so, what are your impressions of the DC/Baltimore metro music scene? If not, how much are you looking forward to checking it out?
We’ve been in the area a few times and have always had a lot of fun. We’ve played the Met in Annapolis, and a festival in Baltimore, as well as a cool spot in D.C. that escapes my mind at the moment. We also played on the Mall next to the Lincoln Memorial on July 4th one year. It was really hot, but a lotta fun for sure.
Your show here in Frederick is at the Flying Dog Brewery. Have you had Flying Dog before? Have you heard of it? What are your impressions of it?
Yes, and we are very excited! Very stoked to be playing at a killer venue with one of our favorite bands and a host of delicious brews.
Your sound is very Southern-rock influenced. Who were some of your biggest influences as you were just taking up music?
The Band, forever, will be one of our favorites to be sure. Cowboy, the band my dad helped start and played drums for in the late ’60s. The Beatles, Paul Simon, LittleFeat, Pink Floyd and countless others.
Was there any other plan for you outside of music? Any other career path you would have enjoyed taking?
Well, there still is. I enjoy doing lots of things. I’m thankful that I now get to pursue music, but if I weren’t able to play anymore I know my creative needs would be met in a multitude of other ways. But I guess if I’m honest as a younger man I always thought being a baseball player would be wonderful, too.
What can we expect from the set here in Frederick?
Well, I thinks it’s safe to say y’all will see some bad ass southern soul rock n’ roll.
Check out Thomas Wynn and the Believers when they kick off Flying Dog’s Summer Sessions concert series at 6:30 p.m. Saturday night. For those who might refuse to enter our tiny giveaway, tickets are still available.
Oh, we’re almost there! We’re almost there! JJ Grey and Mofro is set to take the Flying Dog stage Saturday night and today’s Video Of The Day features the band (along with Toots Hibbert, of course) and “The Sweetest Thing.” Because there’s a tiny, tiny chance you might not already know, don’t forget: Our contest, giving away two tickets for Saturday’s show, ends later today. So, if you haven’t taken a moment to follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook, now might be a good time to remedy that. Saturday can’t get here soon enough!
