MTRS

Welshly Arms, The Whiskey Hollow and The Blue Stones to hit the Cleveland HOB Saturday 11/24

Welshly Arms with special guest The Blue Stones, and The Whiskey Hollow

It could be an actual place or just a feeling, but we’re all searching for home in one way or another. In times like these, it’s a state of mind that remains harder and harder to come by as the world gets crazier and crazier. Welshly Arms most definitely attest, and that search drives the group’s 2018 full-length debut, No Place Is Home [Republic Records].

Lacing daring alternative rock with gospel-size scope and bluesy heart, the Cleveland, OH six-piece—Sam Getz [lead vocals, guitar], Brett Lindemann [keys], Jimmy Weaver [bass], Mikey Gould [drums], Bri Bryant [vocals], and Jon Bryant [vocals]—cook up thirteen arena-ready anthems that welcome listeners to chant along everywhere…

“We’ve been traveling so much over the past few years,” explains Sam. “It’s awesome to see so many new places and play to people everywhere, but you do feel a bit rootless. One month, the tour bus is our home. The next, we’re overseas living out of hotels. When we actually get back to our hometown, it doesn’t feel like home, because we’ve gotten so used to being on the road. At the same time, it’s easy to feel lost and like you don’t belong anywhere in the world. That’s the overall theme of the songs.”

Since 2013, Welshly Arms have canvased nearly every corner of the globe spurned along by a bevy of seismic and show-stopping songs. Their 2017 EP, Legendary, boasted the ubiquitous title track, “Legendary.” To date, it has earned gold certifications in Germany and Switzerland, cracked over 47 million Spotify streams in under two years, received 1.5 million Shazams, and soared to Top 15 at Alternative Radio. Meanwhile, the group’s tracks have piped through campaigns for Miller, Hulu, NFL, Indian Motorcycles, and Beck’s Beer, while “Hold On I’m Coming” roared over the trailer for Quentin Tarantino’s Academy Award-winning The Hateful Eight. Additionally, they lit up the stage at Jimmy Kimmel LIVE! and earned praise from Indie Shuffle, Baeble, Cleveland.com, and more.

In the midst of this whirlwind, the musicians rented a 19th century house in Cleveland to record what would become No Place Is Home. They transformed the remote farm house into a de facto Welshly Arms headquarters and creative haven complete with separate rooms dedicated to keyboards, guitars, writing, listening to vinyl, and, of course, recording. This served as the site of the album’s genesis.

“It just felt like a really creative and safe area to make new music,” says Jimmy. “We primarily record here, because it’s got everything we need. As years went by, we’ve accumulated so many different instruments and recording studio toys that had to often live in closets or storage units. Now, we’ve got everything in one place. You can write songs in any room. There’s no pressure. There are no time limits. It really brought a special energy to what we were doing.”

That energy courses through the first single “Sanctuary.” Propelled by powerful handclaps, sweeping organs, and robust guitars, the track stretches to cathedral-size heights highlighted by an angelic choir of voices as Sam assures, “You are, you are safe with me.”

“Lyrically, it’s all about getting through these hard times, connecting with someone, and making your safe place together,” the vocalist goes on. “We’re taking that classic sound and making it our own.”

“I just remember envisioning a whole group singing an inspiring lyric together,” adds Jimmy. “It could be in a bar or in an arena. That’s the vibe.”

Elsewhere, the album commences with rustling guitars and spaghetti western-esque whistling before snapping into a soulful strut. “Down to the River” adds a new face to revival-style energy with its swaggering punch. Then, there’s “Indestructible,” which thrives on a funkified shuffle.

“That one’s fun,” smiles Sam. “We wanted to give people something to move to. We kicked it off with a feeling. It’s about a woman who’s too strong for you. You’re having a hard time getting something going, because she’s so indestructible.”

In the end, Welshly Arms make audiences feel right at home by elevating their sound to a bigger and bolder stratosphere.
“No Place Is Home really showcases our love for music,” concludes Jimmy. “We approach things in different ways and push ourselves. We’ve moved up a grade as a band.”

“There are so many different turns on this record, as far as the sounds and themes go,” Sam leaves off. “‘Legendary’ was the first step towards something bigger. This shows our progression as a whole.”

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Listening to the larger-than-life, dense, but precise, garage blues-rock of The Blues Stones on their debut, Black Holes, it is astonishing to discover all that sound and fury is created by just two people. Longtime friends, guitarist/vocalist/lyricist Tarek Jafar and percussionist/vocalist Justin Tessier, have known each other since meeting as teenagers in high school, but it wasn’t until almost five years later, while attending university together, that they decided to combine their talents on guitar and drums, respectively, into a musical project.

The Blue Stones are firmly in the tradition of other such rambunctious duos such as The Black Keys, The White Stripes and Royal Blood, at once harking back to the glory daze of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Jimi Hendrix Experience and their Motor City rock ‘n’ roll models from the other side of the Detroit River, The Stooges, MC5 and Alice Cooper. Throw in modern influences like Kentucky guitar-slingers, My Morning Jacket; and New Orleans’ rhythmically tight MUTEMATH; rappers Jay Z, Kanye West and J. Cole, along with seminal blues giants Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf and B.B. King, and you get an idea of the Blue Stones’ musically eclectic palette.

From the slap back echo and the Rolling Stones “ooh-oohs” in the gut-punching “The Drop” through the tribute to perseverance in the martial snare, bluesy singalong of “Rolling with the Punches” and the acoustic-to-electric whisper-to-a-scream dynamism of the title track, Black Holes shows a band blasting into outer space and leaving “Solid Ground” behind. It’s the voyage of a group beginning to find its way, emerging from isolation and perspiration to inspiration, reaching an audience waiting to be tapped, and entertained. A rock ‘n’ roll band fighting the good fight, looking to connect in an increasingly fragmented music universe.

“The album’s about being an adolescent on the cusp of becoming an adult and entering the real world from a sheltered environment, like college,” explains Jafar. “Feeling torn between taking the secure path or doing something that might be riskier, but you’re passionate about… following what you love as opposed to sticking to the straight and narrow.”

Indeed, “Black Holes (Solid Ground)” is about precisely that either/or dichotomy, caught between infinite space and terra firma, willing to take a shot at the unknown rather than settle for the familiar, in between Jafar’s restless guitars and Tessier’s tribal drum beats.

“We play blues-rock, though it’s not loose and dirty, like the traditional kind,” explains Justin. “It’s lean, raw, tight, without a wasted note.”

It took seven long years – and an independently released EP – for The Blue Stones to hone their approach, putting in those requisite 10,000 hours to perfect their craft, and then build upon that. As Jafar describes the audience participation of “Rolling with the Punches,” which is the group’s usual, rollicking set-closer, “It takes a lot to be a success. You have to stay proud and focused. And it’s always fun to have people sing the words you’ve written and just sit back and take it all in.”

There’s a similar message in the album finale, “Magic,” in which Jafar admits he doesn’t believe in it. “People these days are all looking for instant gratification, the quick reward,” he says. “If you want something that will endure, that’s not how it works. You have to put in the hours and the effort.”

The Blue Stones have done just that, with an approach that isn’t afraid to take chances, like plumbing Jafar’s love of hip-hop and Miles Davis into the funky backbeat of “Be My Fire” or the epic psychedelic experimentation in the pitch-dark “Midnight.”

“You never know where we’ll pull inspiration from,” marvels Justin.

“This is the album we’ve always wanted to make,” adds Tarek. “We set out to show we’re more than loud and lo-fi, that we have range and dynamics.”

And now it’s time to take to the road, play these songs and add to their growing legion of admirers.

“We have dreams and we have goals, but we separate the two,” adds Justin. “A dream is to headline Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, where we saw so many great bands. Out goal, though, is to reach out at every show and win people over one by one. That’s how we’ve always done it and it’s worked so far. We believe in what we’re doing and we have emotional connections to the songs we’re playing. We want to provide our audience with the kind of experiences we had when we were younger attending shows of our favorites. That’s what we look to pass on.”

“My whole attitude is, let’s see what happens,” nods Tarek. “And that’s allowed me to be up for anything.”

“We’re emerging from the tunnel and realizing there’s a guiding light at the end,” pipes in Justin.

“It’s not over now,” sings Jafar in “Lay,” “Don’t lay your flag and turn away/Please don’t leave me with another regret.”

With the release of Black Holes, The Blue Stones are ready to raise the stakes and turn up the heat.

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The Whiskey Hollow are an up-and-coming 4 piece roots/alternative rock band from Cleveland Ohio. Priding ourselves on high energy and emotional performances across the region, The Whiskey Hollow has toured extensively in the Midwest and East Cost, playing a variety of venues from DIY clubs to the House of Blues. The Whiskey Hollow has also been invited to perform at annual music festivals such as Britewinter (Cleveland, 2017 & 2018), Neo Cycle (Cleveland, 2018), Burning River Fest (Cleveland, 2017), and River Scene Indie Fest (Michigan, 2018), while also playing direct support for national acts like the All-American Rejects and The Stone Foxes. The Whiskey Hollow recently released their newest EP, Greenhouse, a genre-bending rock and roll journey with diverse rock/blues/indie influences paired with powerhouse vocals and unique melodies. Singer Madeline Finn, a staple on the local scene since winning the coveted Cleveland High School Rock-off as the first female fronted act in history, was recently cast in American Idol (2018) as a program finalist. The Whiskey Hollow are currently writing and performing, prepping for a slew of Summer 2018 shows and a future release in 2019.

Lineup:
Headliner: Welshly Arms
Support: The Whiskey Hollow, The Blue Stones

Doors at 7pm and show at 8pm. This is an all ages event.

This event is general admission, standing room only with reserved seats in the balcony. All general admission (GA) tickets are for standing room only.

Ticket Prices:
$20 – Advance GA Ticket
$25 – Day of Show GA Ticket
$35 – Reserved Balcony Ticket
*All ticket prices are subject to applicable service charges.

Join us for dinner in House of Blues Restaurant & Bar before the show. View our menu and make reservations online or call: 216.523.2583

TICKET Get them HERE

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