David Synn plays This Ain't No Disco tonight at the V Club

The St. Albans-based electronic musician David Synn takes his act and all of his keyboards out to Huntington tonight for a This Ain't No Disco show with DJ Tanner at the V Club. There, he will be welcomed by Brett Fuller (Franklin Fuckin Furnace), who continues to bring an ecclectic mix of artists to Huntington.

Last we heard, Synn was working on Digital Ideations, the follow-up to Frequency of Static, his debut release on Empty Glass Records.

You can make sure Synn's story checks out by revisiting the Gazette article on him from May, pieced together by someone we can only assume to have a lot of friends, and be super cool in general.


David Synn: "Apathy" live @ Shamrock's 6.25.2011

Elvis Presley Murder Files bring improv rock to V Club

photo: Gordon Grant

L-R: John E. Sizemore, Jude Blevins, Jon Dunlap, and Jason Robinson (plus the not pictured Jimbo Valentine) comprise the improvisational rock project The Elvis Presley Murder Files, which plays the V Club Thursday night, and really doesn’t know who killed Elvis...


Reposted from The Huntington Herald-Dispatch

Gathering on a Sunday to rehearse for just their second gig, the guys in The Elvis Presley Murder Files practice just like they play: by the seat of their pants.

The instrumental, improvisational rock outfit brought back to life by guitarist John E. Sizemore and bassist Jason “Roadblock” Robinson, whether it’s live on stage, or live at Sizemore’s house, makes it a point to shake things up and throw any semblance of musical structure out the window.

And before you get to how, really, what EPMF is doing is closer to jazz than what a lot of area rock bands are doing, you have to get the easiest, yet toughest, question out of the way: who killed Elvis?

“I don’t know if Elvis was murdered, and really, I don’t care,” Sizemore said to some group laughter, whilst throwing out the hypothetical suspects of Jerry Lee Lewis, and maybe Richard Nixon.

The Elvis Presley Murder Files play the V Club Thursday night as part of the This Ain’t No Disco series.

After the subject of “the king” had left the building, the discussion turned to what makes EPMF unique as a rock and roll project. Started out originally by Sizemore and a friend a few years ago, and recently re-animated with his Scrap Iron Pickers band mate Roadblock, the two each point out that they really don’t know what to expect on stage.

“We do the same thing here at practice that we do at the shows, pretty much,” Sizemore said. “We might start out loosely with a theme, and then somebody will start on something and that’s it. We’re getting a little more structured, but not really. There might be one or two songs structured for this next show, but they probably won’t be the same for the show.”

After recruiting drummer Jude Blevins and guitarist Jon Dunlap for their first show in April, and bringing on Huntington’s Jimbo Valentine for synth and ambient duties, Elvis Presley Murder Files was fully formed.



“It’s jazz,” Robinson explained. “In traditional jazz a group of musicians would show up at a club, someone would yell out a key, and sometimes they’d have a melody to go off of, and they’d start playing. It’s come to the point now where jazz is even getting more structured. And that’s why I call the Scrap Iron Pickers jazz, too. It’s almost more progressive fusion, and a little heavier. But Elvis Presley Murder Files is like pure, freeform jazz. It doesn’t matter what anybody is doing, it’s just musicians making music together in an improvisational way.”

“And not to compare us to Miles Davis, but hell, he didn’t practice with those musicians,” Sizemore said jumping back in. “They showed up for the gig and did the gig. And that’s kind of what we’re doing in spirit.”

“It’s just freeform improvisation,” Roadblock continued. “If people come to see the show, they might not correlate it to jazz, but that’s what it is. But, we don’t do heroin, so it’s not jazz, and we all take baths, so it’s not hippie,” the bassist said to much laughter.

Blevins, a member of the Huntington-area doom/drone band Hyatari, having driven an hour and forty-five minutes to rehearse at Sizemore’s Nitro home, said the Elvis Presley Murder style suits him just fine.

“It’s kind of like Satchell, when me and John [Vanover] get together; open and freeform. You’ve got to have some fun with it.”

While comparing and contrasting what they do in Elvis Presley Murder Files to Scrap Iron Pickers, Roadblock said the former wouldn’t exist if not for the latter.

“I think the Scrap Iron Pickers’ CD [Redeeming Metal/Union] actually pushed us more to do Elvis Presley Murder Files. On the second half of the CD [Union] we went out and actively looked for people we wanted to play with, and brought them in the studio to record.

“That’s the difference between Scrap Iron Pickers and Elvis Presley Murder Files; [EPMF] is just like a different personality of us. Some of the Elvis Presley Murder riffs, you might hear in Scrap Iron Pickers stuff, and vice versa. But Scrap Iron Pickers is more structured. Elvis Presley Murder Files is no limits, no rules or nothing.”

Sizemore said the collaboration in Scrap Iron Pickers, and the musical chemistry between him and Roadblock, lends itself well to the unstructured style Elvis Presley Murder is going for.

“Block’s a good friend. And he’s a good friend I make music with.”

“We kind of know what each other will do musically,” Roadblock said, jumping back in. “And we don’t have any big hang-ups in our lives outside of music.”

“We’re just musicians making music like everybody should be playing, not getting hung up on who’s writing what and playing what,” Sizemore said. “We all constantly write, so whoever wants to can bring anything to the table. There’s no standstill with the music.”

While saying that he makes it as high a priority as his and everyone else’s life allows, Sizemore said he hopes to continue the fun times making music.

“I want to keep doing this. Absolutely.”

Maybe unwittingly drawing a parallel between the Elvis Presley Murder style and their own lives, Roadblock summed it all up.

“Sometimes it can fall apart, but the cool part is bringing it back together.”

IF YOU GO:
The Elvis Presley Murder Files
Where: The V Club, 741 6th Ave., (304) 781-0680
When: Thursday, July 28, 10 p.m.
Cost: $3
Info: www.vclublive.com

Additional AC30 pics This Ain't No Disco presents live @ The V Club

 




Hi there. My name is Chris, and I have been a Huntington/Proctorville based photographer for 20 years. Thanks for viewing.

Live Review: This A'int No Disco with AC30 at V Club May 5, 2011

photo:Chris Harper

By Dave Mistich

When a band is named after a iconic Vox guitar amplifier a prospective listener should have some idea of what they’re in for. It’s a rig whose tubes and speakers shaped rock history with a little help from a few guys like Keith Richards, Pete Townshend, Peter Buck, and Brian May. Think crisp and clean, but able to conjure serious bite and raw power—an apt moniker (and metaphor) for the Huntington-based power-pop quintet, AC30.

Firing away by opening with one of the singles that’s been getting the band some local buzz, “I’m Free,” Ryan Weaver’s vocals matched the timbre of the band surrounding him—a sound somewhere between soothing and refined rowdiness; something even the most conservative, anti-rock grandmother might not only tolerate but thoroughly enjoy.

But it wasn’t just Weaver featured on vocals. The other front three members stepped up and handled leads, sometimes switching between verses and choruses. Bassist Ian Thornton, guitarist Doug Woodard, and the slick-fingered local hero Bud Carroll were all capable vocally. But it was drummer Alex McCoy, whose surprisingly high range on backing vocals, that deserved MVP on the mic.

Even though it was impossible for the crowd to be familiar with the songs (this was only the band’s third show), the response indicated that they will be welcomed time and again. There was a lot of dancing from the crowd; the kind that signals that rock and roll does fantastic things for people. There were also immediate howls and applause from the audience once the band finished a song.

There was only one flub the entire night, and it wasn’t even while the band was playing. Coming out of stellar version of Big Star’s “September Gurls,” Woodard had difficulties tuning, essentially killing the momentum built up by the set until then.

Carroll apologized to the crowd, stating that it was necessary to get things perfect, and confidently proclaimed their next song was “the best one we’ve got.” And he wasn’t lying. “She’s The One” epitomized the groups layered sound. Bluesy lead licks, vocal harmonies, and a driving rhythm—morphing into a collective of pop sweetness.

After finishing their set, the V Club’s crowd quickly demanded an encore and rightfully so. With a bit of conversation amongst the band, The Temptations' “I Can’t Get Next To You” was settled upon as a finale and the already dance-ready crowd got moving at a pace unmatched by prior tunes.

The choice of covers, an instrument switch (between Thornton and Woodard late in the set), and even the sonic shifts within their own material prove the group to be extremely versatile, a band capable of executing the most difficult pop arrangements with grace.

While Carroll and company’s playing is impeccable, what really grabs hold is how near perfect their own songs are. There’s an eerie feeling evoked by AC30’s material, making one wonder whether Lennon-McCartney were arranging songs by Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers (or vice versa) but spiced with a fierce attention to the vocal harmonies, which in places might be suited for The Staple Singers or some legendary Motown session group. Throw in the fact that each member contributes to songwriting, and it's frivolous in trying to find a weak link anywhere within the group.

AC30 is a weird trip through pop music history, one with slight twists and turns but always staying inside the lines on a carefully built, meaningful road. These history lessons handed down from bands and musicians are increasingly necessary in a world where digital singles with short life spans somehow trump the power of classic records, let alone discographies that have formed the map that is the canon of lasting pop music. The gentlemen in AC30 would probably tell you that themselves.

And, so, one can only guess the mission of this band. However, it’d be hard not to believe it’s giving a nod to those who’ve held onto some strict ethic and obsessed with the smoothness and universal emotion that pop can bring.


video: Chris Harper