Jukebox the Ghost – Tickets – 9:30 Club – Washington, DC – March 16th, 2013
Jukebox the Ghost
Matt Pond, The Spring Standards
Sat 3/16
8:00 pm
9:30 Club http://www.930.com/event/190529/
Share This Event
Jukebox the Ghost - (Set time: 10:35 PM)
Jukebox the Ghost’s third album Safe Travels marks a period in the band’s that’s steeped in change, both personally and professionally. Relationships dissolved and crumbled. Loved ones passed on. The band themselves relocated from Philadelphia to New York City and played over 200 shows since the release of their last album in 2010. In the midst of so much change, the band spent months in the studio creating what would become “Safe Travels”, a record that represents a shift in the band’s creative trajectory.
“It felt like the music was finally growing with us — Songs that relate to who we are as people right now, not who we were when we were 19 or 20,” Siegel said. “This record is more heartfelt; part of that came from not worrying about exactly what kind of music we were supposed to be making and instead just working on songs that felt genuine and natural at the time.”
Safe Travels, at its core, represents three people going through universal life changes – A way of coping with how quickly things can turn around, for good and bad. And though it’s clear their sound and outlook have matured to addressing some darker subject material, their brand of upbeat pop still remains intact.
“We’ve always been the kind of band that juxtaposes darker lyrics with upbeat music, but this record feels a little more personal,” Thornewill said. “In the grand scheme of things, it’s certainly not a downer record but you need pain to get joy, and joy to get pain; they’re inseparable.”
Bolstered by an appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman, an appearance at Lollapalooza, and extended opening tours with Ben Folds, Guster, Adam Green and Jack’s Mannequin, the band has acquired an incredibly loyal (and sometimes rabid) fanbase since the release of 2008’s “Let Live and Let Ghosts”. Over the years, Jukebox the Ghost has maintained a tour schedule that most bands would balk at, playing over 150 shows a year and becoming a well-oiled, high energy live band. This summer, the band embarks on their biggest headline tour to date after performing at Bonnaroo on the album’s release weekend — Their Bowery Ballroom show in June has already sold out two months in advance.
“Safe Travels” also marks the first time that the band had been afforded unlimited studio time. The sessions took place in Brooklyn, with their friend Dan Romer (Ingrid Michaelson, Jenny Owens Young) producing and engineering. The result is a collection of 13 songs that finds the band maturing both musically and lyrically. The band was also able to work with a string section for the first time, which gave Thornewill the chance to flex his compositional skills and formal classical training.
They’d be the first to admit that their previous two records had a charming, “hyperactive” quality about them, but you don’t get that sense here. There’s a balance between the peppy piano pop of songs like the album’s upbeat opener “Somebody”, the bouncy synth-pop of “Oh, Emily” and the radio-ready drama of “Don’t Let Me Fall Behind” to more poignant, contemplative songs in the album’s second half that represent the band’s desire to travel into new sonic territory.
“In the past Ben and Tommy sometimes wrote from various fictional perspectives” says drummer Jesse Kristin, “but the songs on this album feel closer, more personal, and steeped in actual life experiences.”
This creative shift is best exemplified by “Dead,” “Adulthood,” “Ghosts in Empty Houses,” and “The Spiritual” – songs that deal with death and mortality head on, with an immediacy that was masked on previous albums.
“Adulthood” was initially a difficult song for Thornewill to perform. Written before his grandfather’s death from lung cancer, the line “In my lungs I still feel young” was painfully prophetic and the overall message that “from adulthood, no one survives” became all too real. “Dead” approaches a similar theme with understated elegance. The song begins with Siegel’s innocent, boyish croon over a ghostly drone and builds into a climax with post-rock ferocity entirely new to the band’s catalogue.
“Even though we’re tackling some difficult themes this go-round, we’re still a band that wants people to feel good,” said Tommy. “We’re the same upbeat band we’ve always been, but we’re firm believers that pop music can have depth.”
Ask Brooklyn’s Jukebox the Ghost why their third album is called ”Safe Travels,” on a surface level, it’s likely they’ll tell you about a song by Austin’s Red Hunter, who performs as Peter and the Wolf. The song, from his 2006 album ”Lightness” became something of a mantra for the band. ”Since we’re always in new cities and away from the people we love, that song really hit home for us,” said Ben. “It was a song that represented saying goodbye.”
On “Safe Travels”, Jukebox the Ghost manages to contrast these darker themes with the same optimistic sound and a familiar sense of youthfulness that stays true to their core.
“It felt like the music was finally growing with us — Songs that relate to who we are as people right now, not who we were when we were 19 or 20,” Siegel said. “This record is more heartfelt; part of that came from not worrying about exactly what kind of music we were supposed to be making and instead just working on songs that felt genuine and natural at the time.”
Safe Travels, at its core, represents three people going through universal life changes – A way of coping with how quickly things can turn around, for good and bad. And though it’s clear their sound and outlook have matured to addressing some darker subject material, their brand of upbeat pop still remains intact.
“We’ve always been the kind of band that juxtaposes darker lyrics with upbeat music, but this record feels a little more personal,” Thornewill said. “In the grand scheme of things, it’s certainly not a downer record but you need pain to get joy, and joy to get pain; they’re inseparable.”
Bolstered by an appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman, an appearance at Lollapalooza, and extended opening tours with Ben Folds, Guster, Adam Green and Jack’s Mannequin, the band has acquired an incredibly loyal (and sometimes rabid) fanbase since the release of 2008’s “Let Live and Let Ghosts”. Over the years, Jukebox the Ghost has maintained a tour schedule that most bands would balk at, playing over 150 shows a year and becoming a well-oiled, high energy live band. This summer, the band embarks on their biggest headline tour to date after performing at Bonnaroo on the album’s release weekend — Their Bowery Ballroom show in June has already sold out two months in advance.
“Safe Travels” also marks the first time that the band had been afforded unlimited studio time. The sessions took place in Brooklyn, with their friend Dan Romer (Ingrid Michaelson, Jenny Owens Young) producing and engineering. The result is a collection of 13 songs that finds the band maturing both musically and lyrically. The band was also able to work with a string section for the first time, which gave Thornewill the chance to flex his compositional skills and formal classical training.
They’d be the first to admit that their previous two records had a charming, “hyperactive” quality about them, but you don’t get that sense here. There’s a balance between the peppy piano pop of songs like the album’s upbeat opener “Somebody”, the bouncy synth-pop of “Oh, Emily” and the radio-ready drama of “Don’t Let Me Fall Behind” to more poignant, contemplative songs in the album’s second half that represent the band’s desire to travel into new sonic territory.
“In the past Ben and Tommy sometimes wrote from various fictional perspectives” says drummer Jesse Kristin, “but the songs on this album feel closer, more personal, and steeped in actual life experiences.”
This creative shift is best exemplified by “Dead,” “Adulthood,” “Ghosts in Empty Houses,” and “The Spiritual” – songs that deal with death and mortality head on, with an immediacy that was masked on previous albums.
“Adulthood” was initially a difficult song for Thornewill to perform. Written before his grandfather’s death from lung cancer, the line “In my lungs I still feel young” was painfully prophetic and the overall message that “from adulthood, no one survives” became all too real. “Dead” approaches a similar theme with understated elegance. The song begins with Siegel’s innocent, boyish croon over a ghostly drone and builds into a climax with post-rock ferocity entirely new to the band’s catalogue.
“Even though we’re tackling some difficult themes this go-round, we’re still a band that wants people to feel good,” said Tommy. “We’re the same upbeat band we’ve always been, but we’re firm believers that pop music can have depth.”
Ask Brooklyn’s Jukebox the Ghost why their third album is called ”Safe Travels,” on a surface level, it’s likely they’ll tell you about a song by Austin’s Red Hunter, who performs as Peter and the Wolf. The song, from his 2006 album ”Lightness” became something of a mantra for the band. ”Since we’re always in new cities and away from the people we love, that song really hit home for us,” said Ben. “It was a song that represented saying goodbye.”
On “Safe Travels”, Jukebox the Ghost manages to contrast these darker themes with the same optimistic sound and a familiar sense of youthfulness that stays true to their core.
Matt Pond - (Set time: 9:30 PM)
Matt Pond has already accomplished what fewrarely do. A career musician with a die-hard following that continues to grow with each album, and a resume that includes the title song for a motion picture soundtrack, a long running Starbucks holiday commercial with a hook that's always stuck in our heads, selling over 100,000 albums to date; his success is matched only by his prolific outpouring of talent. But Matt takes those things with a grain of salt, in 'Lives' he shows us what's really important.
With the new album, The Lives Inside the Lines in Your Hands, MattPond is stepping forward with striking honesty and humbling optimism and delivers his strongest work to date. And with this transformative record comes some distinct changes- removing the 'PA' that has accompanied his name for nearly a decade, his first official 'solo' release, and partnering with newlabel and longtime publishing partner, BMG Rights Management.
Matt Pond is able to slough off the dead skin, radiantly revealinghimself in his purest form- a feat many artists strive for, but rarely accomplish. The change symbolizes more than just coming out as an official solo act, it is also perhaps a symbol of letting go. Letting go of the places he's called home; he no longer belongs to Pennsylvania, or Brooklyn, or even thecabin in Bearsville, he is distinctly free from any earthly chains and whatremains is just Matt Pond. His final frontier is to "run wild within our clear blue minds" ('Human Beings'). The graceful departure gives Matt Pond both the freedom from, and acceptance of the limitations of being alive. The result is 'The Lives Inside the Lines in your Hands'.
'Lives' is an upbeat antidote to the pessimistic shift in the collective consciousness. It's an ode to the bittersweet reality that we are human, we are finite, and we are flawed. But in each song on this album, Matt Pond sources the beauty in all of it, even when it's not pretty, and delivers an indie rock album that's brimming with authenticity; Pond captures the sentiment perfectly in "Starlet": 'I know I know there's so much I don't know'. The album's first single "Love to Get Used", is a notably playful departure from what we've seen before. "Let's hang on to abandon and hope we lose control" Pond insists in the uptempo indie-pop track, "to be out in the open baby and let go of the ropes".
…And let go, he does. In a free-fall of spirit, Matt gets to the core of his own humanity, and we can't help but listen intently to see what he finds, because after all, it can sometimes be a frightening journey, a risk many of us aren't willing to take. "Hole in My Heart" strips down the frivolities and formalities that water down most songs about heartbreak, leaving us with a chillingly accurate, almost childlike description of the pain it causes, and a glimpse into the places he's stumbled in his own journey, when, as he puts it, "with eyes closed we dove into unknown". In the end, "The Lives Inside the Lines in your Hands" is a triumph against the paltry conditions we've all been forced to reckon with as a society. When times are tough though, art flourishes, and 'Lives' is ademonstration in how Pond is transcended by his art. "Someday I'll stop breathing," he says, "but I'll never stop singing."
With the new album, The Lives Inside the Lines in Your Hands, MattPond is stepping forward with striking honesty and humbling optimism and delivers his strongest work to date. And with this transformative record comes some distinct changes- removing the 'PA' that has accompanied his name for nearly a decade, his first official 'solo' release, and partnering with newlabel and longtime publishing partner, BMG Rights Management.
Matt Pond is able to slough off the dead skin, radiantly revealinghimself in his purest form- a feat many artists strive for, but rarely accomplish. The change symbolizes more than just coming out as an official solo act, it is also perhaps a symbol of letting go. Letting go of the places he's called home; he no longer belongs to Pennsylvania, or Brooklyn, or even thecabin in Bearsville, he is distinctly free from any earthly chains and whatremains is just Matt Pond. His final frontier is to "run wild within our clear blue minds" ('Human Beings'). The graceful departure gives Matt Pond both the freedom from, and acceptance of the limitations of being alive. The result is 'The Lives Inside the Lines in your Hands'.
'Lives' is an upbeat antidote to the pessimistic shift in the collective consciousness. It's an ode to the bittersweet reality that we are human, we are finite, and we are flawed. But in each song on this album, Matt Pond sources the beauty in all of it, even when it's not pretty, and delivers an indie rock album that's brimming with authenticity; Pond captures the sentiment perfectly in "Starlet": 'I know I know there's so much I don't know'. The album's first single "Love to Get Used", is a notably playful departure from what we've seen before. "Let's hang on to abandon and hope we lose control" Pond insists in the uptempo indie-pop track, "to be out in the open baby and let go of the ropes".
…And let go, he does. In a free-fall of spirit, Matt gets to the core of his own humanity, and we can't help but listen intently to see what he finds, because after all, it can sometimes be a frightening journey, a risk many of us aren't willing to take. "Hole in My Heart" strips down the frivolities and formalities that water down most songs about heartbreak, leaving us with a chillingly accurate, almost childlike description of the pain it causes, and a glimpse into the places he's stumbled in his own journey, when, as he puts it, "with eyes closed we dove into unknown". In the end, "The Lives Inside the Lines in your Hands" is a triumph against the paltry conditions we've all been forced to reckon with as a society. When times are tough though, art flourishes, and 'Lives' is ademonstration in how Pond is transcended by his art. "Someday I'll stop breathing," he says, "but I'll never stop singing."
The Spring Standards - (Set time: 8:45 PM)
The Spring Standards
yellow//gold
The Spring Standards have been told many things about their music since their start in 2008 – it makes people feel warm inside, it touches painful places. It’s simple and sweet yet dark and utterly confusing. They’ve been called folk, pop, rock, Americana, indie and everything in between – sometimes all over the course of a 45-minute set. In spite of this, The Spring Standards are far from a band in the midst of an identity crisis. They are not trend-chasers or bandwagon riders. They are honest-to-goodness troubadours who let their music guide them, dutifully following wherever it might lead.
For 3 kids who grew up together in the woods and creeks of the Delaware/Pennsylvania border, their shared memories take them down winding back roads to starry open fields on quiet summer nights. They learned James Taylor covers in their parent’s garage and played small side stages at local folk festivals while other kids their age were doing way cooler things. Their love of music was the tie that always bound them to each-other, and making it together quickly became the lifeblood of their friendship. It’s that connection that has carried them through ups and downs, in and out of one another’s lives over the years and miles, to this moment in Brooklyn, NY as they prepare their third independent release.
The Spring Standards are taking more risks than ever before with their new album, a double EP entitled yellow // gold. In it, the band explores the two contrasting sides of their musical identity.
yellow is a 7-song disc filled with warmth and melancholy, with tunes that tell stories of hope in the face of longing and loss. It harkens back to their roots, drawing inspiration from the music they grew up with and those things that first drew them together – the simple magic of voices raised in harmony, the beauty of acoustic instruments.
gold is a 5-song battle cry from some dark secret place, full of frustration and excitement, tension and relief. These songs invoke urban landscapes and dingy rock clubs, long stretches of deserted highways from Orlando to Seattle, the honking horns and screeching trains of New York City. They are pulsing and frantic, desperate to be heard and understood.
When juxtaposed, these two EPs capture the energy of a band in a moment of significant growth and self-realization. A band that’s not afraid to throw out expectation and follow their instincts into uncharted waters, trusting that their beloved listeners will take the leap of faith along with them. And that faith is well-founded, given that this is the second fully fan-funded album The Spring Standards have released. The support they’ve received from their growing fan base has allowed them to stay fully independent, an invaluable gift that encourages them to take risks and continue growing well beyond their comfort zone. They fully embrace the symbiotic nature of that relationship, and cherish the unique connection they’ve been able to cultivate with fans near and far.
yellow // gold was recorded over the course of 2011 at Sounds Like a Fire Studio in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn. It features some of Brooklyn’s finest and a lot of delicious food was eaten during its creation. It will be released in May 2012.
yellow//gold
The Spring Standards have been told many things about their music since their start in 2008 – it makes people feel warm inside, it touches painful places. It’s simple and sweet yet dark and utterly confusing. They’ve been called folk, pop, rock, Americana, indie and everything in between – sometimes all over the course of a 45-minute set. In spite of this, The Spring Standards are far from a band in the midst of an identity crisis. They are not trend-chasers or bandwagon riders. They are honest-to-goodness troubadours who let their music guide them, dutifully following wherever it might lead.
For 3 kids who grew up together in the woods and creeks of the Delaware/Pennsylvania border, their shared memories take them down winding back roads to starry open fields on quiet summer nights. They learned James Taylor covers in their parent’s garage and played small side stages at local folk festivals while other kids their age were doing way cooler things. Their love of music was the tie that always bound them to each-other, and making it together quickly became the lifeblood of their friendship. It’s that connection that has carried them through ups and downs, in and out of one another’s lives over the years and miles, to this moment in Brooklyn, NY as they prepare their third independent release.
The Spring Standards are taking more risks than ever before with their new album, a double EP entitled yellow // gold. In it, the band explores the two contrasting sides of their musical identity.
yellow is a 7-song disc filled with warmth and melancholy, with tunes that tell stories of hope in the face of longing and loss. It harkens back to their roots, drawing inspiration from the music they grew up with and those things that first drew them together – the simple magic of voices raised in harmony, the beauty of acoustic instruments.
gold is a 5-song battle cry from some dark secret place, full of frustration and excitement, tension and relief. These songs invoke urban landscapes and dingy rock clubs, long stretches of deserted highways from Orlando to Seattle, the honking horns and screeching trains of New York City. They are pulsing and frantic, desperate to be heard and understood.
When juxtaposed, these two EPs capture the energy of a band in a moment of significant growth and self-realization. A band that’s not afraid to throw out expectation and follow their instincts into uncharted waters, trusting that their beloved listeners will take the leap of faith along with them. And that faith is well-founded, given that this is the second fully fan-funded album The Spring Standards have released. The support they’ve received from their growing fan base has allowed them to stay fully independent, an invaluable gift that encourages them to take risks and continue growing well beyond their comfort zone. They fully embrace the symbiotic nature of that relationship, and cherish the unique connection they’ve been able to cultivate with fans near and far.
yellow // gold was recorded over the course of 2011 at Sounds Like a Fire Studio in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn. It features some of Brooklyn’s finest and a lot of delicious food was eaten during its creation. It will be released in May 2012.