Homegrown Music Festival Field Guide 2014
Homegrown Music Festival 2014
Festival Director
Walter Raschick
Assistant Director
Jake Larson
Volunteer Coordinator
Melissa La Tour
Venue/Advertising Coordinator
Adam Guggemos
Board of Directors
Mary Bue (vice president), Pete Dingels, Jesse Hoheisel (president), Margie Nelson, Hattie Peterson
Steering Committee
Brennan Atchison, Mary Bue, Todd Gremmels, Adam Guggemos, Jesse Hoheisel, Zoe LaTour, Kelli Latuska, Glenn Maloney (secretary), Angela Milinkovich, Ryan Nelson
Rick Boo Committee
Rick Boo
Field Guide Produced by
Adam Guggemos and Paul Lundgren
Field Guide Advertising Representative
Breanne Marie Tepler
Field Guide Cover Art
David Moreira, a.k.a. SkatRadioh
Field Guide Contributing Writers
Jenny Ahern, Nyanyika Banda, Brittany Berrens, Amy Clark, Mike Creger, Christine Dean, Tony Derrick, Emily Haavik, Kim Hyatt, Rachel Kraft, Nolan Leider, Mark Lindquist, Paul Lundgren, Israel Malachi, Rick McLean, Margie Nelson, Jamie Ness, Michael Novitzki, Walter Raschick, Brittany Sanford, Abigail Schoenecker, Steve Wick
The Homegrown Music Festival, Inc., is a Minnesota nonprofit under section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Fuck you, Gomez.
Homegrown Music Festival
P.O. Box 16505, Duluth MN 55816
www.duluthhomegrown.com
[email protected]
* * *
Happy 46th birthday, Starfire
Notes from the 2014 Homegrown Steering Committee
Homegrown Music Festival committee members faced a tough decision in 2006 – whether the number of bands should be capped at 100 or not. Here we are eight years later with 200 bands in the festival. Enough already, right?
Well, the spirit of rawk and/or roll just keeps surging in Duluth, and our annual festival keeps getting more out of control as a result. There are 100 pages of intricate details in this snappy Field Guide to help sort it all out. The page you are looking at is where we boil down the critical background. Read slowly for best comprehension.
A guy we call Starfire (birth name: Scott Lunt) started this festival in 1999; the 2014 edition is the 16th annual Homegrown. It has been a nonprofit for the past eight years. A guy we call Dizzo (birth name: Walter Raschick) has been the festival director for three years. Gobs of volunteers help make everything happen; some of them are named in the box to the left, many more go unsung.
The Homegrown concept is simple: We haul out a buttload of bands of all genres, stuff them into theaters, bars, coffee shops and the occasional pipe shop so the whole town can shake its naughty bits for eight solid days. There will be rock, country, hip-hop, blues, jazz and even an 18-member flute choir. There will be a music-video showcase, a photography exhibit, a two-hour-long poetry reading, belly dancing, fire spinning, kickball playing and numerous unplanned shenanigans.
There are only two things asked of everyone during Homegrown: Have fun without wrecking things, and be grateful. Allow us to break that down into more detail.
1. Have fun without wrecking things. That means no punching, kicking, complaining, crybabying or otherwise pants pissing – unless it is done in a particularly artsy and creative way that amuses people. Under no circumstances should you drink and drive during Homegrown or any other time. Find an old on-the-wagon musician to drive you around. There is also a free trolley on the weekends, sponsored by the Greater Downtown Council, and a few cab companies in town that are fairly reputable.
2. Be grateful. In addition to Starfire and the legions of organizers and volunteers who have followed him and kept this festival just structured enough to comprehend, there are numerous other individuals and entities worthy of mucho respect, such as the musicians, the sound engineers, the bartenders and everyone who is dancing or otherwise gyrating. And hey, we know you are inherently skeptical of authority, but the Duluth Economic Development Authority made arrangements to locate Homegrown’s temporary headquarters – “The Chicken Shack” – in the Temple Opera Building, so tip your hat to DEDA. The city governments of Duluth and Superior have also been cooperative, which should additionally please you while confounding your punk sensibilities.
Other than those two simple guidelines, all that’s asked is that you enjoy the music and have a happy Homegrown! We supply the rock and roll; the sex and drugs are up to you.
* * *
Festival Price Guide
Weeklong Pass
All eight days – $25
Single-day Pass
Friday or Saturday – $15
Single-day Weekday Pass
Any weekday – $5
During Homegrown shows, admission wristbands can be purchased at any venue that requires them. Advance tickets are available at Electric Fetus stores in Duluth and Minneapolis, and will remain on sale there throughout the week of Homegrown. For more information and schedule updates, check out duluthhomegrown.com.
* * *
Day One
Sunday, April 27
Day-by-day stories by Emily Haavik
All right, friends – you can stop Homegroaning about your humdrum lives. The eight-day savior is back to whisk you away on a whirlwind of adventure before dropping you unceremoniously back into your 9-to-5. Use this day-by-day guide to find your way without accidentally ending up back at your desk or passing out.
Sunday starts with an illicit set at Teatro Zuccone before festivities are declared open with the Mayor’s Proclamation and the Homegrown Hempen Ale Cask Release at Tycoons. Immediately after this near-religious experience is a set entirely devoted to debunking religious experiences. Toby Thomas Churchill’s atheism-themed side project is called Starling of Athens.
“I looked around and saw that nobody was doing it that I could see,” Churchill says. “So I thought, ‘I’ll do that.'”
Churchill says his goal is not to ruffle feathers. At least, not primarily.
“It’s not in-your-face dickish or anything,” he says. “I try to incorporate some humor and some irony and some catchy turns of phrase to try to get my point across. Which is, religion’s just baloney, I guess.”
Once you’re in an existential crisis heightened by a Hempen Ale haze, try your luck at the Carmody pub quiz. No one knows who’s hosting this year but records show prize expenditures total approximately $6.
Music continues at Teatro, Tycoons and Carmody, and the traditional new band showcase at Lucé begins at 10 p.m. with Beachfight, followed by Sordes. The Social Disaster, the next big thing for Duluth riot grrrls, wraps up the night.
Day Two
Monday, April 28
Monday starts out in Teatro Zuccone’s lobby with the Homegrown Photo Show, coordinated by Laramie Carlson. He takes the pictures with the squiggly lights in them.
“Vintage Val” Turcotte and Tom O’Keefe play in the Zeitgeist Arts Atrium, just through the double doors. At 7 p.m. head down the Zeitgeist stairs to Zinema 2 for the first screening of the Homegrown Music Video Festival. Don’t miss it! You won’t have another chance to see these videos … other than two more times during Homegrown and any time, once they hit the Internet.
The Homegrown Poetry Showcase, which at last check was 30 poets strong, starts at 8 p.m. at the Underground. Jesse Hoheisel, Kathy McTavish and Richie Townsend will provide mood music.
Mary Bue and Kyle Elden organized the showcase, and they worked hard to welcome in new poets.
“We wanted to reach students and the closet poets,” Bue says. “We’re trying to get everybody in all the corners of the Twin Ports.”
Downtown Duluth will be filled with music for the rest of the night. The Rex houses Man on the Moon, a sort-of revamp of Bradical Boombox. Brad Fernholz says he’s feeling a new energy and enthusiasm in his music, and a record is in the works.
The Red Star is a weird but awesome mix of hip-hop and folk-roots, Dubh Linn is ball-slashin’-raunch-n-roll with melodic psychedelia in between, and the Brewhouse is a rest for your ears with bands that are a bit more quiet and pretty.
Day Three
Tuesday, April 29
If you’re already slacking (It’s only Tuesday! Get it together!) and you missed the Music Video Festival, the first encore is at Zinema 2 at 5:30 p.m. After that, head over to the Underground to catch the Music Resource Center showcase, made up of four talented young bands from the Armory’s after-school music program.
Tuesday is, of course, the behemoth Grandma’s Sports Garden night. This year’s lineup is Red Mountain, Cars & Trucks, Toby Thomas Churchill and Retribution Gospel Choir. RGC is Alan Sparhawk’s first of four shows at this year’s Homegrown.
“RGC was born at Homegrown,” he says. “We miss it a lot when we’re out of town. … It’s a long tradition.”
It’s actually the first year that all four of Sparhawk’s bands are playing the festival, which is great for everyone else and maybe tiring for him.
“I have a lot of catching up to do with Mobley,” he says, referring to bass player Matt Mobley’s feat of playing somewhere around 11 gigs in one Homegrown.
Elsewhere on Tuesday, shenanigans will be primarily limited to Canal Park for your convenience. You can stick to Amazing Grace and Lake Avenue Café, or jaunt up Lake Avenue about a block. Prøve Collective will be in full swing for its first time as a Homegrown music venue.
Day Four
Wednesday, April 30
West Duluth Wednesday! The night no one gets back to their own bed except for the westsiders, who have been eagerly awaiting their one chance to walk home.
If you’ve frantically skipped ahead to this day in the guide to see why Trampled By Turtles isn’t on the schedule, slow your roll. They had a tour scheduling conflict, and they are appropriately sad. Also, the Homegrown committee has cooked up something really special in their stead. Charlie Parr and the Black-eyed Snakes are forming a super group to play the main stage at Clyde Iron Works. Before them will be Actual Wolf and Southwire, and up on the mezzanine the all-ages stage will feature A Band Called Truman, The People Say Fox and the Resonance.
Other Wednesday venues are Beaner’s, Players Sports Bar, Mr. D’s and two new Homegrown venues – the Kom-on-Inn and Gopher Lounge. Wednesday is the only night any of the joints west of Mesaba Avenue host Homegrown shows, except for Beaner’s Central, which serves as the West Duluth branch of Homegrown’s otherwise all-downtown weekend shows.
Playing last at the Kom-on-Inn is Wood Blind, a new acoustic ska duo comprised of local favorite Jason Wussow along with Veikko Lepisto. The latter used to be in Royal Crown Revue, a band that toured the world and had a hand in starting the retro-swing revival of the late 1990s.
Day Five
Thursday, May 1
Superior night starts off at the Red Mug with a very piano-y showcase. Then the Duluth Dolls make their first Homegrown appearance at the Main Club, followed by a synth-sational bonanza with Drohm, Bondage Symphony and the Horror.
Thirsty Pagan Brewing, Norm’s Beer & Brats, the Superior Flame and delicious first-timer Vintage Italian Pizza are the other Superior night venues.
Manheat, playing at the Superior Flame, is in the process of releasing three cassette-tape EPs on Heat Street Records. Two other local bands, Wolf Blood and Low Forms, have also put out tapes this year. As a result, anecdotal evidence points to an unexpected boom in tape deck demand that has really revitalized, or confounded, pawn shops and RadioShacks everywhere.
“I have had two customers come in, and this is no lie, looking for tape decks,” says Matt Busch, an assistant coach at Pawn America. “In the last month, actually. This guy, he was totally from the ’80s, you know? And he was cruising around and I was like, ‘Can I help you?’ And he was like, ‘Not really, I’m looking for a tape deck.’ And I said, ‘We don’t have those.'”
Busch says this is a new phenomenon.
“I’ve been working here since May, and I’ve never had anyone else ask for a tape deck.”
Coincidence? You decide.
If you’re not allowed to leave Minnesota for undisclosed reasons, don’t worry. Burrito Union, Chester Creek Wine Bar and the Reef Bar will be the Duluth venues. Far-from-inferior Duluth lineups include Steve Sola, Aurora Baer and Sonja and the Reckoning.
Day Six
Friday, May 2
There will be 15 venues, 47 bands and only one you. Get ready to hustle.
Homegrown Friday is too vast to be summarized here. Venues are limited to Canal Park and Downtown Duluth. Note that about half the venues are for people age 21 or older, and the other half are all-ages venues, but Legacy Glassworks is the only 18+ venue, due to the presence of tobacco and related products for those sneaky 17-year-olds to get their sticky hands on.
Teatro Zuccone features an eclectic mix of experimental music by Tim Kaiser, Dirty Knobs and Troy Rogers.
Rogers will be showcasing music-playing robots, and swears they’re not only Three-Laws Safe, but “Three-Laws Unaware.” He calls them by name a little bit like people, but he says they’re not “humanoid.”
“They’re more instrumentoid,” he says. “They look like creatures that have grown around the instruments.”
Rogers says come expecting the unexpected. He programs the robots to “surprise” him.
Music on Friday will be sprawled out from as far east as Sir Ben’s, all the way down to the canal, and as far west as Beaner’s. This would be a good night to take advantage of the Homegrown trolley, which will surely be home to some impromptu performances all along Superior Street. Red Star will be a hip-hop haven, and Dubh Linn and Tycoons will feature eclectic mixes of rock, soul and reggae. The veteran lineup at Lucé is the Keep Aways, Horse & Rider and Sexhawk.
Day Seven
Saturday, April 5
Saturday at noon the Friday bands vs. Saturday bands Homegrown Kickball Classic saga continues. Friday took last year’s game, so Saturday will be out for blood. Or mud, if it’s anything like 2013.
Before heading to the game, make sure to stop at Chester Creek Café for Kraig James and Sara Thomsen at 10 and 11 a.m., respectively. Kraig Erickson, who performs as Kraig James, is probably the tallest performer in Homegrown this year at 6 feet 7 inches.
“Out of courtesy to my audience, I’m going to sit when I play,” Erickson says.
On Saturday there are 17 venues and 52 bands/collectives/drumming troupes. Two talented young acts are playing at Amazing Grace. Taste the Feeling – two-thirds kid – is at 7:30 p.m., and Maddy Siiter is at 8:30. At 15, Siiter has already composed 70 songs.
There are rumors flying of a collaboration at Sacred Heart, where the North Wind Flute Choir, Sing! A Women’s Chorus and Low are performing. No hints. Fine, one hint. Sing! Low, sweet chariot.
Spin Collective and Tribal Alchemie will be putting on a show in the Minnesota Power Plaza from 9 to 10:30ish. And there is talk of actual roosters visiting the Cockfight show at Carmody.
“Actually I know a guy who has some roosters,” says Rob May, half of Cockfight. “Well, he has some chickens. The roosters all died. … Maybe we could actually set something like that up. I think it’s illegal.”
OK, there will be no roosters.
Day Eight
Sunday, May 4
Of course, it would be unreasonable to expect anyone to get up and consume more music, alcohol and social interactions after such a week. Then again, you knew when you signed up that this thing is eight days, not seven. So man/woman up.
Music starts at Pizza Lucé with Hannah McDaniel at 11 a.m. and Rick McLean at noon. Then you can choose between the second Music Video Festival encore (Seriously? You missed it again?) or Canal Park Brewing Co.’s lineup of Group Too, Holy Hootinanners and the also-holy traditional closers of Homegrown festivities, the Silk Sheiks.
And now, little rawker, go to sleep and dream of next year’s Homegrown, which will be bigger, better and more corporate than ever.
* * *
Homegrown Music Festival 2014 Schedule
Sunday, April 27
7:30pm
Coyote
Teatro Zuccone
Free – All ages
8:30pm
Mayor’s Proclamation and Homegrown Hempen Ale Cask Release
Tycoons Alehouse
Free – 21+
8:30pm
Lee Lah Sohn
Teatro Zuccone
Free – All ages
8:45pm
Starling of Athens
Tycoons Alehouse
Free – 21+
9pm
Homegrown Pub Quiz
Carmody Irish Pub
Free – 21+
9:30pm
Déjà vu Drifters
Teatro Zuccone
Free – All ages
9:45pm
Borderstone
Tycoons Alehouse
Free – 21+
10pm
Beachfight
Pizza Lucé
Free – 21+
10:15pm
Current Administration
Carmody Irish Pub
Free – 21+
10:30pm
Vivielle
Teatro Zuccone
Free – All ages
10:45pm
Saint Anyway
Tycoons Alehouse
Free – 21+
11pm
Sordes
Pizza Lucé
Free – 21+
11:15pm
Breanne Marie & the Front Porch Sinners
Carmody Irish Pub
Free – 21+
11:45pm
Frances Lee Williams Band
Tycoons Alehouse
Free – 21+
12am
The Social Disaster
Pizza Lucé
Free – 21+
12:15am
Teague Alexy Band
Carmody Irish Pub
Free – 21+
Monday, April 28
5pm
Opening reception for Homegrown Photo Show
Teatro Zuccone Lobby
Free – All ages
5:30pm
Val Turcotte and Tom O’Keefe
Zeitgeist Arts Building Atrium
Free – All ages
7pm
Homegrown Music Video Festival
Zinema 2
Wristband required – All ages
7:30pm
Tony Derrick
Sir Benedict’s Tavern on the Lake
Free – All ages
8pm
Homegrown Poetry Showcase
The Underground
Free – All ages
8:30pm
Fearless Moral Inventory
Sir Benedict’s Tavern on the Lake
Free – All ages
9:30pm
The Adjustments
Carmody Irish Pub
Wristband required – 21+
9:30pm
Steve Johnson
Sir Benedict’s Tavern on the Lake
Free – All ages
9:45pm
Lion or Gazelle
The Rex
Wristband required – 21+
10pm
DJ J. J. Lawrence
Red Star Lounge
Wristband required – 21+
10:15pm
The Ball Slashers
Dubh Linn Irish Pub
Free – 21+
10:30pm
Dedric Clark and the Social Animals
Carmody Irish Pub
Wristband required – 21+
10:30pm
Robi Meyerson
Fitger’s Brewhouse
Free – 21+
10:45pm
Paper Parlor
The Rex
Wristband required – 21+
11pm
Legitimit
Red Star Lounge
Wristband required – 21+
11:15pm
The Formal Age
Dubh Linn Irish Pub
Free – 21+
11:30pm
Wes Hadrich & Greg Tiburzi
Carmody Irish Pub
Wristband required – 21+
11:30pm
De Se
Fitger’s Brewhouse
Free – 21+
11:45pm
Man on the Moon
The Rex
Wristband required – 21+
12am
The Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank
Red Star Lounge
Wristband required – 21+
12:15am
The Acceleratii
Dubh Linn Irish Pub
Free – 21+
Tuesday, April 29
5:30pm
Homegrown Music Video Festival (encore #1)
Zinema 2
Wristband required – All ages
6pm
Potluck Communists
The Underground
Wristband required – All ages
6:30pm
Superior Siren
Amazing Grace Bakery & Café
Free – All ages
7pm
Co¢ky Da$h
The Underground
Wristband required – All ages
7:30pm
Kristy Marie & Jim Hall
Amazing Grace Bakery & Café
Free – All ages
8pm
Transparency
The Underground
Wristband required – All ages
8:30pm
The 13th Choir
Amazing Grace Bakery & Café
Free – All ages
8:45pm
Red Mountain
Grandma’s Sports Garden
Wristband required – 21+
9pm
The Lockpicks
The Underground
Wristband required – All ages
9:15pm
Tin Can Gin
Prøve Gallery
Free – All ages
9:45pm
Cars & Trucks
Grandma’s Sports Garden
Wristband required – 21+
10pm
Gina Lee
Lake Avenue Restaurant & Bar
Wristband required – 21+
10:15pm
Lee Jeffrey
Prøve Gallery
Free – All ages
10:45pm
Toby Thomas Churchill
Grandma’s Sports Garden
Wristband required – 21+
11pm
Fuzzy Ellis
Lake Avenue Restaurant & Bar
Wristband required – 21+
11:15pm
Somewhere But Who
Prøve Gallery
Free – All ages
11:45pm
Retribution Gospel Choir
Grandma’s Sports Garden
Wristband required – 21+
12am
Hannah Rey
Lake Avenue Restaurant & Bar
Wristband required – 21+
Wednesday, April 30
6pm
A Band Called Truman
Clyde Iron Works – Mezzanine
Free – 21+
7pm
Actual Wolf
Clyde Iron Works – Main Stage
Weeklong wristband required – 21+
7:30pm
Colleen Myhre
Beaner’s Central
Wristband required – All ages
8pm
Southwire
Clyde Iron Works – Main Stage
Weeklong wristband required – 21+
8:30pm
Bryan Olds Band
Beaner’s Central
Wristband required – All ages
9pm
The Black-eyed Snakes with Charlie Parr
Clyde Iron Works – Main Stage
Weeklong wristband required – 21+
9:30pm
Songs of Shipwreck
Beaner’s Central
Wristband required – All ages
10:15pm
The People Say Fox
Clyde Iron Works – Mezzanine
Free – 21+
10:15pm
Phillip of Nazareth
Players Sports Bar
Wristband required – 21+
10:15pm
Ire Wolves
Kom-on-Inn
Wristband required – 21+
10:30pm
Thunder Brothers
Mr. D’s Bar & Grill
Wristband required – 21+
10:45pm
The Blasphemists
Gopher Restaurant & Lounge
Wristband required – 21+
11:15pm
The Resonance
Clyde Iron Works – Mezzanine
Free – 21+
11:15pm
Old Knifey
Players Sports Bar
Wristband required – 21+
11:15pm
Wino, WI
Kom-on-Inn
Wristband required – 21+
11:30pm
500 Million Society
Mr. D’s Bar & Grill
Wristband required – 21+
11:45pm
The Farsights
Gopher Restaurant & Lounge
Wristband required – 21+
12:15am
Rich Mattson & the Northstars
Players Sports Bar
Wristband required – 21+
12:15am
Wood Blind
Kom-on-Inn
Wristband required – 21+
12:30am
The Boomchucks
Mr. D’s Bar & Grill
Wristband required – 21+
12:45am
Dead Guys
Gopher Restaurant & Lounge
Wristband required – 21+
Thursday, May 1
6:30pm
Mary Bue
Red Mug Coffeehouse
Free – All ages
7:30pm
Ryan Van Slooten
Red Mug Coffeehouse
Free – All ages
8:30pm
Emily Havoc
Red Mug Coffeehouse
Free – All ages
9pm
Steve Sola
Chester Creek Café Wine Bar
Free – 21+
9:15pm
Duluth Dolls Burlesque and Cabaret
The Main Club
Wristband required – 21+
9:30pm
Aurora Baer
Burrito Union
Free – All ages
9:45pm
Hanna Cesario
Thirsty Pagan Brewing
Wristband required – 21+
10pm
The Yeah Scherz
Chester Creek Café Wine Bar
Free – 21+
10pm
Dad’s Acid
Norm’s Beer & Brats
Wristband required – 21+
10:15pm
Drohm
The Main Club
Wristband required – 21+
10:15pm
Triplekoin
Reef Bar
Wristband required – 21+
10:30pm
Timothy Martin and the New Norm
Burrito Union
Free – All ages
10:30pm
Cowboy
Vintage Italian Pizza
Free – 21+
10:30pm
Manheat
Superior Flame Nightclub
Free – 21+
10:45pm
Two Beat Band
Thirsty Pagan Brewing
Wristband required – 21+
11pm
Batteries
Norm’s Beer & Brats
Wristband required – 21+
11:15pm
Bondage Symphony
The Main Club
Wristband required – 21+
11:15pm
Five Pints a’ Rye
Reef Bar
Wristband required – 21+
11:30pm
Virgil Caine
Vintage Italian Pizza
Free – 21+
11:30pm
Hard Feelings
Superior Flame Nightclub
Free – 21+
11:45pm
Boku Frequency
Thirsty Pagan Brewing
Wristband required – 21+
12am
The Tisdales
Norm’s Beer & Brats
Wristband required – 21+
12:15am
The Horror
The Main Club
Wristband required – 21+
12:15am
Sonja and the Reckoning
Reef Bar
Wristband required – 21+
12:30am
Silverback Colony
Vintage Italian Pizza
Free – 21+
12:30am
Risky Fingers
Superior Flame Nightclub
Free – 21+
Friday, May 2
5:30pm
The Branditos
Amazing Grace Bakery & Café
Free – All ages
6pm
Portrait of a Drowned Man
Beaner’s Central
Wristband required – All ages
6:30pm
Tim Kaiser
Teatro Zuccone
Wristband required – All ages
6:30pm
Portage
Amazing Grace Bakery & Café
Free – All ages
7pm
Exiles
Beaner’s Central
Wristband required – All ages
7pm
Nur Jehan Chisti
The Underground
Wristband required – All ages
7:30pm
Biochemical Characters
Amazing Grace Bakery & Café
Free – All ages
7:30pm
Dirty Knobs
Teatro Zuccone
Wristband required – All ages
7:45pm
Danecdote
Legacy Glassworks
Free – 18+
8pm
Turbo Rathvon
Beaner’s Central
Wristband required – All ages
8pm
Todd Eckart
The Underground
Wristband required – All ages
8:30pm
Lay Low & Bender
Amazing Grace Bakery & Café
Free – All ages
8:30pm
Troy Rogers
Teatro Zuccone
Wristband required – All ages
8:45pm
Thadi P.
Legacy Glassworks
Free – 18+
9pm
The Albedo Effect
Beaner’s Central
Wristband required – All ages
9pm
Tangier 57
The Underground
Wristband required – All ages
9:30pm
Timmy Jacks Off
Sir Benedict’s Tavern
Free – All ages
9:45pm
Low-Hi Funk
Legacy Glassworks
Free – 18+
9:45pm
Bill Flannagan Blues Cabooze
Carmody Irish Pub
Wristband required – 21+
10pm
Glenn Maloney
Fitger’s Brewhouse
Free – 21+
10pm
Armond Blackwater & Blackwater Tribe
R. T. Quinlan’s Saloon
Wristband required – 21+
10:15pm
The Crunchy Bunch
Rex Bar
Wristband required – 21+
10:15pm
Misnomer
Red Star Lounge
Wristband required – 21+
10:15pm
Dirty Horse
Dubh Linn
Free – 21+
10:30pm
Space Carpet
Tycoons Alehouse
Wristband required – 21+
10:30pm
The Keep Aways
Pizza Lucé
Wristband required – 21+
10:30pm
Black River Revue
Sir Benedict’s Tavern
Free – All ages
10:45pm
Jaze
Legacy Glassworks
Free – 18+
10:45pm
Stel
Carmody Irish Pub
Wristband required – 21+
10:45pm
Four Mile Portage
Lake Avenue Restaurant & Bar
Wristband required – 21+
11pm
The Bitter Spills
Fitger’s Brewhouse
Free – 21+
11pm
Dead Skull
R. T. Quinlan’s Saloon
Wristband required – 21+
11:15pm
Fred Tyson Sex Worskshop
Rex Bar
Wristband required – 21+
11:15pm
Nonfic
Red Star Lounge
Wristband required – 21+
11:15pm
American Rebels
Dubh Linn
Free – 21+
11:30pm
DJ Delgado
Tycoons Alehouse
Wristband required – 21+
11:30pm
Horse & Rider
Pizza Lucé
Wristband required – 21+
11:30pm
Rooftop Fable
Sir Benedict’s Tavern
Free – All ages
11:45pm
Peter Pain
Carmody Irish Pub
Wristband required – 21+
11:45pm
Christoph Bruhn
Lake Avenue Restaurant & Bar
Wristband required – 21+
12am
A Winter Downpour
Fitger’s Brewhouse
Free – 21+
12am
Wolf Blood
R. T. Quinlan’s Saloon
Wristband required – 21+
12:15am
The Fontanelles
Rex Bar
Wristband required – 21+
12:15am
DJ Warhorse
Red Star Lounge
Wristband required – 21+
12:15am
Big Wave Dave and the Ripples
Dubh Linn
Free – 21+
12:30am
Prince Paul & the Conscious Party
Tycoons Alehouse
Wristband required – 21+
12:30am
Sexhawk
Pizza Lucé
Wristband required – 21+
Saturday, May 3
10am
Kraig James
Chester Creek Café Wine Bar
Free – All ages
11am
Sara Thomsen
Chester Creek Café Wine Bar
Free – All ages
12pm
Homegrown Kickball Classic
Chester Bowl Park
Free – All ages
5:30pm
The Ugly Mugs
Amazing Grace Bakery & Café
Free – All ages
6pm
Amy Abts
Beaner’s Central
Wristband required – All ages
6:15pm
North Wind Flute Choir
Sacred Heart Music Center
Wristband required – All ages
6:30pm
The Fish Heads
Teatro Zuccone
Wristband required – All ages
6:30pm
The Getarounds
Amazing Grace Bakery & Café
Free – All ages
7pm
Jillian Rae
Beaner’s Central
Wristband required – All ages
7pm
Planemo
The Underground
Wristband required – All ages
7:15pm
Sing! A Women’s Chorus
Sacred Heart Music Center
Wristband required – All ages
7:30pm
Markus J. Dandy & the Complete Lack Thereof
Teatro Zuccone
Wristband required – All ages
7:30pm
Taste the Feeling
Amazing Grace Bakery & Café
Free – All ages
8pm
Mark Anderson Trio
Beaner’s Central
Wristband required – All ages
8pm
Mikey Talented
The Underground
Wristband required – All ages
8:15pm
Low
Sacred Heart Music Center
Wristband required – All ages
8:30pm
Curren Effinger
Teatro Zuccone
Wristband required – All ages
8:30pm
Maddy Siiter
Amazing Grace Bakery & Café
Free – All ages
8:45pm
Bliss
Legacy Glassworks
Free – 18+
9pm
The Spin Collective and Ladyslipper Musicians
Minnesota Power Plaza
Free – All ages
9pm
Preston Gunderson
Beaner’s Central
Wristband required – All ages
9pm
The Cold Starts
The Underground
Wristband required – All ages
9:30pm
The Tico Three
Sir Benedict’s Tavern
Free – All ages
9:45pm
Tribal Alchemie featuring Yabobo Drummers
Minnesota Power Plaza
Free – All ages
9:45pm
Willie Diction
Legacy Glassworks
Free – 18+
9:45pm
Father Hennepin
Carmody Irish Pub
Wristband required – 21+
10pm
Abe Curran & the Blue Rooster
Fitger’s Brewhouse
Free – 21+
10pm
Uprising
Duluth Flame Nightclub
Free – 21+
10pm
Indulge
R. T. Quinlan’s Saloon
Wristband required – 21+
10:15pm
Sarah Krueger
Rex Bar
Wristband required – 21+
10:15pm
Malec
Red Star Lounge
Wristband required – 21+
10:30pm
Adam Sippola
Sir Benedict’s Tavern
Free – All ages
10:30pm
Mr. Kickass
Tycoons Alehouse
Wristband required – 21+
10:30pm
The Good Colonels
Pizza Lucé
Wristband required – 21+
10:45pm
Number One Common
Legacy Glassworks
Free – 18+
10:45pm
Brother George
Carmody Irish Pub
Wristband required – 21+
11pm
Phantom Ship
Fitger’s Brewhouse
Free – 21+
11pm
Supreme Rokka Hi-Fi
Duluth Flame Nightclub
Free – 21+
11pm
Low Forms
R. T. Quinlan’s Saloon
Wristband required – 21+
11:15pm
The Slamming Doors
Rex Bar
Wristband required – 21+
11:15pm
12StepVillains
Red Star Lounge
Wristband required – 21+
11:30pm
Todd Gremmels
Sir Benedict’s Tavern
Free – All ages
11:30pm
Electric Witch
Tycoons Alehouse
Wristband required – 21+
11:30pm
Jack Campbell & the Skeleton Keys
Pizza Lucé
Wristband required – 21+
11:45pm
Xhaust
Legacy Glassworks
Free – 18+
11:45pm
Cockfight
Carmody Irish Pub
Wristband required – 21+
12am
The Murder of Crows
Fitger’s Brewhouse
Free – 21+
12am
Fever Dream
Duluth Flame Nightclub
Free – 21+
12am
Bratwurst
R. T. Quinlan’s Saloon
Wristband required – 21+
12:15pm
The Brothers Burn Mountain
Rex Bar
Wristband required – 21+
12:15am
Iron Range Outlaw Brigade
Red Star Lounge
Wristband required – 21+
12:30am
Duck Duck Punch
Tycoons Alehouse
Wristband required – 21+
12:30am
Crew Jones
Pizza Lucé
Wristband required – 21+
Sunday, May 4
11am
Hannah McDaniel
Pizza Lucé
Free – All ages
12pm
Rick McLean
Pizza Lucé
Free – All ages
1:30pm
Group Too
Canal Park Brewing Co.
Free – 21+
2pm
Homegrown Music Video Festival (encore #2)
Chester Creek Café Theater
Free – All ages
2:30pm
Holy Hootinanners
Canal Park Brewing Co.
Free – 21+
3:30pm
The Silk Sheiks
Canal Park Brewing Co.
Free – 21+
* * *
Less Walk, More Rawk
Homegrown is once again offering free shuttle service via the sexy trolley replica bus on Friday and Saturday nights from 7 p.m. until 1 a.m., thanks to the generous sponsorship of the Duluth Transit Authority and Greater Downtown Council.
The Homegrown Trolley will operate in Downtown Duluth on Superior Street between Sixth Avenue West and Eighth Avenue East, serving venue locations every 20 minutes.
The trolley will stop at the Fitger’s Brewery Complex, Carmody Irish Pub, Teatro Zuccone, Tycoons Alehouse, Pizza Lucé, Dubh Linn Irish Pub, R.T. Quinlan’s Saloon and the Underground.
* * *
Homegrown Venues
Amazing Grace Bakery & Café
394 S. Lake Ave.
(218) 723-0075
amazinggraceduluth.com
Bakery and café in basement of DeWitt-Seitz Marketplace in Duluth’s Canal Park. All ages permitted; free admission.
Beaner’s Central
324 N. Central Ave.
(218) 624-5957
beanerscentral.com
Coffee shop in West Duluth with beer and wine. All ages permitted; paid admission required.
Burrito Union
1332 E. Fourth St.
(218) 728-4414
burritounion.com
Burrito joint in Duluth’s East Hillside with award-winning Fitger’s Brewhouse beer. All ages permitted; free admission.
Canal Park Brewing Co.
300 Canal Park Drive
(218) 464-4790
canalparkbrewery.com
New restaurant and brewery in Canal Park. Must be 21 or older; free admission.
Carmody Irish Pub
308 E. Superior St.
(218) 740-4747
carmodyirishpub.com
Irish-themed brew pub in Downtown Duluth. Must be 21 or older; paid admission required for Monday and weekend events, free admission on Sunday.
Chester Bowl Park
1801 Skyline Parkway
(218) 724-9832
chesterbowl.org
Homegrown Kickball Classic held on large field at end of roadway through park. If conditions are exceptionally wet, check Homegrown website to make sure game hasn’t been moved to alternate location.
Chester Creek Café
1902 E. Eighth St.
(218) 723-8569
astccc.net
Restaurant inside Taran’s Marketplace in Duluth’s Chester Park neighborhood. Hosts Thursday night show in its Wine Bar for people 21 or older. Saturday morning’s show in the restaurant and Sunday’s encore screening of the Homegrown Music Video Festival in a conference room/theater in the basement are open to all ages. Admission is free.
Clyde Iron Works
2920 W. Michigan St.
(218) 727-1150
clydeironworks.com
Former hoist-and-crane manufacturing plant in Duluth’s friendly West End, now a restaurant, bar and concert venue. Must be 21 or older; weeklong pass required for shows in main hall, but upstairs mezzanine shows are free.
Dubh Linn Irish Pub
109 W. Superior St.
(218) 727-1559
dubhlinnpub.com
Irish-themed pub in Downtown Duluth hosting Homegrown bands on Monday and Friday night. Must be 21 or older; free admission.
Duluth Flame Nightclub
28 N. First Ave. W.
(218) 727-2344
duluthflame.com
GLBT-friendly dance club in Downtown Duluth. Must be 21 or older; free admission.
Fitger’s Brewhouse
600 E. Superior St.
(218) 279-2739
brewhouse.net
Award-winning brew pub and restaurant on eastern edge of Downtown Duluth in Fitger’s Brewery Complex. Must be 21 or older; free admission.
Gopher Restaurant & Lounge
402 N. Central Ave.
(218) 624-9793
Spacious bar and restaurant in the heart of West Duluth with a basement hideout called the Gopher Hole for those offended by the music. Must be 21 or older; paid admission required.
Grandma’s Sports Garden
425 S. Lake Ave.
(218) 722-4724
grandmasrestaurants.com
Giant nightclub/restaurant in Canal Park. Must be 21 or older; paid admission required.
Kom-on-Inn
332 N. 57th Ave. W.
(218) 624-3385
West Duluth’s oldest drinking establishment, with the finest ambiance. Must be 21 or older; paid admission required.
Lake Avenue Restaurant and Bar
394 S. Lake Ave.
(218) 722-2355
lakeavenuerestaurantandbar.com
Restaurant and bar in Duluth’s Canal Park. Must be 21 or older; paid admission required.
Legacy Glassworks
30 W. First St.
(218) 720-0747
legacyglassworks.com
Glass-blowing shop in Downtown Duluth. Must be 18 or older; free admission.
The Main Club
1217 Tower Ave.
(715) 392-1756
mainclubsuperior.com
Gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, allied, queer and intersex club in Superior. Must be 21 or older; paid admission required.
Minnesota Power Plaza
14 W. Superior St.
Also known as “Lake Superior Plaza” or the “People’s Power Plaza,” the tiny park at the corner of Lake Avenue and Superior Street in Downtown Duluth is the place to see fire-spinning and belly dancing on Saturday night. All ages permitted; free admission.
Mr. D’s Bar & Grill
5622 Grand Ave.
(218) 624-4178
The unofficial city hall of West Duluth. Must be 21 or older; paid admission required.
Norm’s Beer & Brats
1901 Broadway St.
(715) 394-9689
normsbeerandbrats.net
Music is upstairs at this two-level bar in Superior. Must be 21 or older; paid admission required.
Pizza Lucé
11 E. Superior St.
(218) 727-7400
pizzaluce.com
Restaurant/bar in Duluth Technology Village. Must be 21 or older; paid admission required on Friday and Saturday; Sunday shows are free.
Players Sports Bar
4024 Grand Ave.
(218) 624-7974
Walk into the front door of this West Duluth bar and you will practically be on stage. Must be 21 or older; paid admission required.
Prøve Gallery
21 N. Lake Ave.
(612) 205-6174
provegallery.com
Experimental art gallery in Downtown Duluth. All ages; free admission.
Red Mug Coffeehouse
916 Hammond Ave.
(715) 392-2662
redmugcoffee.com
Coffee shop with beer and wine, located in the Trade and Commerce Marketplace in Superior. All ages permitted; free admission.
Red Star Lounge
600 E. Superior St.
(218) 727-7827
redstarclub.us
Martini bar and live music club located in Fitger’s Brewery Complex. Must be 21 or older; paid admission required.
Reef Bar
2002 London Road
(218) 724-9845
Drinking establishment in eastern Duluth’s Endion neighborhood. Must be 21 or older; paid admission required.
Rex Bar at Fitger’s
600 E. Superior St.
(218) 733-3090
Nightclub in basement of Fitger’s Brewery Complex. Must be 21 or older; paid admission required.
R. T. Quinlan’s Saloon
220 W. Superior St.
(218) 722-3573
Drinking establishment across from the Holiday Center in Downtown Duluth. Must be 21 or older; paid admission required.
Sacred Heart Music Center
201 W. Fourth St.
(218) 723-1895
sacredheartmusic.org
Former cathedral built in 1896 on Duluth’s Hillside; home of Sacred Heart Recording Studio and historic Felgemaker organ. All ages permitted; paid admission required.
Sir Benedict’s Tavern on the Lake
805 E. Superior St.
(218) 728-1192
sirbens.com
Restaurant and bar at the eastern edge of Downtown Duluth. All ages permitted; free admission.
Superior Flame Nightclub
1612 Tower Ave.
(715) 395-0101
superiorflame.com
Happening little gay bar in Superior. Must be 21 or older; free admission.
Teatro Zuccone
222 E. Superior St.
(218) 336-1414
teatrozuccone.com
Black-box theater in Zeitgeist Arts Building, Downtown Duluth. All ages permitted; paid admission required for weekend shows; free on Sunday. Photo exhibit in the lobby is also free.
Thirsty Pagan Brewing
1623 Broadway St.
(715) 394-2500
thirstypaganbrewing.com
Microbrewery and restaurant in Superior. Must be 21 or older; paid admission required.
Tycoons Alehouse
132 E. Superior St.
(218) 623-1889
tycoonsalehouse.com
Restaurant and micro-brew outlet serving Fitger’s Brewhouse beer out of Duluth’s former city hall and jail. Must be 21 or older; paid admission required.
The Underground
506 W. Michigan St.
(218) 733-7555
duluthunderground.org
New satellite theater of the Duluth Playhouse tucked in the basement of the Duluth Depot. All ages permitted; paid admission required for Tuesday night and weekend music; Monday night poetry reading is free.
Vintage Italian Pizza
1201 Tower Ave.
(715) 392-5555
vintageitalianpizza.com
Pizza joint in the heart of Superior’s North End. Must be 21 or older; free admission.
Zeitgeist Arts Atrium
222 E. Superior St.
(218) 722-9100
zeitgeistarts.com
The lobby connecting the Zeitgeist Arts Café, Teatro Zuccone and Zinema 2 hosts music by Val Turcotte and Tom O’Keefe on Monday. All ages permitted; free admission.
Zinema 2
222 E. Superior St.
(218) 722-7300
zinema2.com
Two-screen movie house in Zeitgeist Arts Building hosting the Homegrown Music Video Festival on Monday and Tuesday. All ages permitted; paid admission required.
* * *
Homegrown 2014 Band Profiles
Amy Abts
6pm Sat 5/3 | Beaner’s
The very first act of the very first Homegrown, Amy Abts has played the festival numerous times as a solo performer or with her rock band the State Champs. She even co-chaired the festival committee in 2006. Medical issues and a move to Seattle have kept her away in recent years, but last fall she returned to her hometown of Rochester and has resumed regular gigging, songwriting and recording. Abts’ latest project, Extinct Gingers, features guitarist Adam Kroshus and bassist Matt Stobaugh, who will join her at this year’s Homegrown. No matter the project, Abts’ tender voice and melodic songwriting add the pretty, while her punk rock sensibilities mix in some grit, making for a compelling contrast.
The Acceleratii
12:15am Mon 4/28 | Dubh Linn
They’ve played for eight years in the Twin Ports, but there are still few who can spell the Acceleratii’s name right. They terrorize unsuspecting bars with a ruckus of rockabilly, psychobilly, some would even say raunchabilly. Band members are Chad “Bo Bandit” Lyons on vocals, Steve “Gomez” Mahlberg on guitar, Ben Marsen on bass and Scott “Razzmatazz” Millis on drums. They might add a giraffe to the lineup.
Actual Wolf
7pm Wed 4/30 | Clyde Iron
Eric Pollard – lead singer, guitarist and Mr. Actual Wolf himself – had a stellar 2013. City Pages not only named him the best songwriter of the year, his self-titled debut record made its way onto the alt weekly’s top ten albums of the year. Pollard’s band lends a perfect, rich, country background for his soulful, thoughtful lyrics. The group consists of Jake Hanson and Erik Koskinen on guitars, Steve Garrington on bass and Jeremy Hanson on drums.
The Adjustments
9:30pm Mon 4/28 | Carmody
Part blues, part rock, part jam band, the Adjustments blend all of that with crisp harmonies and head-bobbing tunes. The vocals are provided by Alex Nelson and Justin Lofquist, who are on keyboard and guitar respectively. Also on guitar is Tim Paul Nelson. The newest member of the band, drummer Chuck Lattimore, adds a new funky heartbeat to the sound. The original members have been playing together around northern Minnesota for three years and can be seen at many of these gigs selling their debut album Volume One. Volume Two is in the works.
The Albedo Effect
9pm Fri 5/2 | Beaner’s
Scientifically speaking, the albedo effect relates to the amount of solar energy reflected back to space from Earth. What that has to do with the music group with the same name, we don’t know. But it’s a catchy name for a band specializing in catchy rock originals. Nathan Kluenenberg’s vocals and rhythm guitar lead the cagey tempos provided by drummer Tom Jossart and bassist Logan Amys. Scott Johnson fills in the cracks with lead guitar. Since 2009, this four-piece has worked out 30-plus songs that run the genre gamut: fast-paced rockers, softer acoustic numbers and spacey jams.
Teague Alexy
12:15pm Sun 4/27 | Carmody
This Americana songwriter has come a long, long way from his Jersey Shore hip-hop teenage roots to an adulthood as a Minnesota-based folk/blues musician. In 2006, Alexy released the acoustic rock/gospel tinged The New Folklore. It garnered multiple nominations at Nashville’s Just Plain Folk Awards, eventually winning the best song category for “A Good Clean High.” He has also won critical acclaim for his family folk duo known as the Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank. His latest record is 2013’s A Gentleman Named Actionslave.
American Rebels
11:15pm Fri 5/2 | Dubh Linn
American Rebels are coming off a damned good 2013. They released a well-received self-titled EP, opened for the legendary Bob Mould at Grandma’s Sports Garden and contributed to the showcase Duluth Does Low at Sacred Heart Music Center. This year has already shown signs of equal achievement. Vocalist Kyle MacLean, drummer Scott Millis, lead guitar player Bob Olson, and bassist Heather Dean have gone back into the studio, this time to record a 1960s-inspired psychedelic album. Expect a summer release with a ton of regional shows to follow.
Mark Anderson Trio
8pm Sat 5/3 | Beaner’s
This jazz combo is well-known for its creative interpretations of standards, pop songs and rock music. The band’s regular performances at dark, cozy pubs make Twin Ports winters a little warmer on the senses by stimulating the ears of happy-hour suits, blue-collar regulars and bearded hipsters alike. A 2012 release, Peas on Earth, was the epitome of the trio’s modus operandi of twisting traditionals within the jazz genre. A forthcoming album, Clowns in My Coffee, takes guitarist Mark Anderson, drummer Marvin Pomeroy and bassist John Thorene’s group ethos in a completely new direction by featuring all Latin music originals.
Aurora Baer
9:30pm Thurs 5/1 | Burrito Union
Aurora Baer has been playing her original songs in the Twin Ports for half a decade, and she’s been playing Homegrown almost as long. This year, her guitar and vocals team up with T Bruce Bowers’ electric fiddle to create a blues-flavored Americana sound. Calling the Twin Ports her “musical incubator,” Aurora has played shows in Duluth and Superior, up the North Shore and down into the Twin Cities. She’s currently working on recording some original material.
The Ball Slashers
10:15pm Mon 4/28 | Dubh Linn
Only in Duluth can something as disturbing as a fetish with stabbing exercise equipment be turned into an excuse to rock’n’ roll. That’s exactly what bassist Pete Biasi, singer Jason Watt, guitarist Joe Ulvi and drummer Erik Freitag have done. They debuted in 2012 and have brought healthy doses of anarchy wherever they’ve performed. Some bands write ballads and sing pretty harmonies. This band cracks jokes about bath salts and encourages drunken audiences to rip open big rubber balls tossed out from the stage.
A Band Called Truman
6pm Wed 4/30 | Clyde Iron
A Band Called Truman has been playing around the Twin Ports for nearly four years, though there hasn’t always been so many members. The addition of five new musicians last year – Jim Pospisil on keyboard and vocals, and Jessica Olson, Mina Hubert, Dale Schimmin and Kirby Wood on the horns – changed the band’s sound considerably. Bandleader and guitar player Leon Rohrbaugh defines the new genre as “upbeat-Motown-ska-I-don’t-know-what-you’d call it.” He elaborates: “Think if the Specials picked up Amy Winehouse and drove over to Rancid’s house to have a barbecue.” The rhythm section in this hodgepodge of eclectic noise consists of Tom Wilkowske on bass and Kelly Lussier on drums.
Batteries
11pm Thurs 5/1 | Norm’s
Though Batteries has been around for “only” eight years, its members have at least 60 years of collective experience in Twin Ports indie-rock history. Guitarist Greg Cougar Conley and bassist Bryon Gaynor have performed together in different bands going back to the early 1990s. Dave Frankenfeld has composed uber-cool guitar/vocal/drum sounds locally for more than 10 years. They make drummer Scott Millis a relative rookie, though it seems like he’s been here since Buddy Holly played the Armory. The Batteries discography includes two albums, 2007’s The Great Grandsuck and 2010’s You’re So Excited.
Beachfight
10pm Sun 4/27 | Pizza Lucé
Homegrown 2013 saw the end for the math-folk band Loup-Garou. Homegrown 2014 will see three-fifths of the ashes back together in a new group: Beachfight. Vocalist Gabriel Moll still dons guitar, along with Chad Erlemeier playing drums and Alex Galle on viola. Buster Broughton now joins them on bass, and the results create a faster and heavier sound. Moll and Broughton have worked together before, which makes transitioning to the more excitable style that much smoother. As one can tell by their SoundCloud demos, by the time Homegrown rolls around, Beachfight should be primed and ready for the ring.
Big Wave Dave and the Ripples
12:15am Fri 5/2 | Dubh Linn
Dave Adams and the guys have been playing around the Twin Ports, predominantly at Rex Bar, for many years now, bringing funk and soul to the forefront with their powerful horn section. Adams and David Rode are on trumpet, Alex Nordehn on trombone, and Matt Wasmund and Steve Rogers play baritone and tenor saxophone respectively. Along with Dave Mennes on drums and Peter Knutson on guitar, they play a mix of their favorite soul and funk tunes from other artists along with their own original material.
Biochemical Characters
7:30pm Fri 5/2 | Amazing Grace
Like the natural world of plants after a dormant winter, Biochemical Characters routinely poke their heads up and sprout right around the time Homegrown season warms up. So far this year, these tillers of aggressive Americana – bassist Michael Gabler, guitarist Jay Sandal and drummer Jaywa Walker – have designated the song “Plant Some Beans” for the One Vegetable, One Community Initiative of the Community Garden Program and offered the single “Sunburn” as theme music for the Harbor City Roller Dames. They have also recorded a handful of tunes for a May 2014 release.
The Bitter Spills
11pm Fri 5/2 | Fitger’s Brewhouse
Just a couple of young bucks in the Minneapolis music scene, Baby Grant Johnson and Rich Mattson met in the late 1980s while playing rock’n’roll. Johnson, a member of several bands, including Beyond Zebra, Carpetbaggers and the New Vintage, eventually rubbed his love for folk off on Mattson, and they formed the Bitter Spills in 2006. Mattson, a member of the Glenrustles, Ol’ Yeller and the Tisdales, sings and plays acoustic guitar. Johnson also sings while playing acoustic six- or 12-string guitar. He played his first Homegrown in 2002 and hasn’t missed one since. He says he’s bringing the beer bong, as usual.
Black River Revue
10:30pm Fri 5/2 | Sir Benedict’s
In 2010, vocalist and guitarist Adam Stariha began to lay the foundation for eclectic folk group Black River Revue. A year later he added mandolin player Nate Hynum. Shortly after that, the two expanded the group with a mish-mash of different acoustic players until settling on Joe Berg on washboard, vocalist Ian Kvale, banjoist Timmy Leutgeb and fiddler Kailyn Spencer. The band released its first album Garbage Pickin in 2013 and has plans for a new one this summer.
The Black-eyed Snakes with Charlie Parr
9pm Wed 4/30 | Clyde Iron
Since 1999, gritty blues/rock group the Black-eyed Snakes has been causing ruckuses from coast to coast. With a lineup of “Chickenbone” George Alan Sparhawk, “Bighouse” Bobby Olson, “Smokin'” Brad Nelson and Bryan “Lefty” Johnson, it’s no wonder Duluthians pack themselves into whatever room the Snakes play. The band has two albums under its belt – 2000’s It’s the Black-eyed Snakes and 2003’s Rise Up!. The foot-stomping, mosh-pit inspiring Snakes will be joined at Homegrown by the one and only Charlie Parr. The Snakes and Parr previously teamed up to record Bob Dylan’s song “Highway 61 Revisited” in 2011 for the Another Side of Duluth Does Dylan compilation.
Armond Blackwater and the Blackwater Tribe
10pm Fri 5/2 | R.T. Quinlan’s
Armond Blackwater is a Superior native who began his music career as a 12-year-old organ player in 1965. From there he spent the next few decades playing keys behind Del Shannon, Bill Haley, Steppenwolf and Barry White, just to name a few. He has also performed as a spoken word artist and penned two novels. For Homegrown, he is joined by a free-form group, the Blackwater Tribe, made up of his sons Ash and Bright Moon Blackwater (also known as Rob and Eric Fernquist) on guitars, Luke “Sanidar” Olson on bass, pianist Wanda Boudreaux, and the “drummer who prefers to be called percussionist,” Marvin Pomeroy.
The Blasphemists
10:45pm Wed 4/30 | Gopher Lounge
After tearing up the Twin Ports for two years with their brand of trashcan/rockabilly punk, the Blasphemists decided to take a breather for most of 2013. Things like career moves, marriage and parenthood can be such party-poopers for rock’n’roll lifestyles. But Homegrown signals the end of the hiatus for guitarists Adam Sundberg and Joshua Herbert, bass player Anthony Schaeffer and drummer Stephen Hamlin. They’re back, and the timing couldn’t be better for a second spin of the signature tune “They Don’t Cross Mesaba” in the aftermath of two I-35 projects that jammed up traffic on Duluth’s east/west divide.
Bliss
8:45pm Sat 5/3 | Legacy Glass
David Kittelson plans on making 2014 an extra special year. After honing his lyrical skills for a decade-plus with crews like Kritical Kontact, Modern Gentlemen and Bliss and Sitter, the emcee known as Bliss believes his forthcoming solo album The Most Important Things in Life are Invisible will serve as the music he will be most remembered by. Whether or not that proves true, we can always thank him for his amazing, self-produced season-recap raps for favorite shows Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, and American Horror Story on blisshiphop.com.
Boku Frequency
11:45pm Thurs 5/1 | Thirsty Pagan
After 10 years combining psychedelic soul, funkadelic rock and electric-earth blues, Boku Frequency is no stranger to performing. The band formed in the glory days of the Red Lion Bar, playing every Friday as the house band until the place closed in 2007. Since then, Terry “Redeye Dread” Gums and Thomas “Too Sharp” Harris have added Leo “Psycho Capone” to the lineup and have been playing locally at places like the Twins Bar, Carmody Irish Pub and FourthFest at Bayfront Park.
Bondage Symphony
11:15pm Thurs 5/1 | Main Club
Bondage Symphony plays dark-wave electronica with piano-acoustic elements. Previously known as Naked Hobbits, the duo of John McLoughlin and Clark Anderson has been performing locally for more than 11 years. After taking a year off to work on new material, they’re excited for their 2014 Homegrown debut, and to be on stage once again.
The Boomchucks
12:30am Wed 4/30 | Mr. D’s
Jamie Ness and Brad Nelson have been playing “train-beat-driven Americana” music together as the Boomchucks since 2008. Ness’ Nashville-influenced guitar and Nelson’s aforementioned train-beat drumming are the backbone, but the vocal harmonies and clever lyrics are what have made the duo popular. They released a self-titled album four years ago, and Ness says they are “gearing up to make another,” because, as the Boomchucks most well-known song goes, “once you have one, you want to have another.”
Borderstone
9:45pm Sun 4/27 | Tycoons
Borderstone carries a torch for traditional bluegrass and folk. Guitarist Ryan Morgen and mandolin player Nicholas Klee started the band in 2012, and the music quickly moved toward an old-time sound. John Rainwater joined the group on banjo, and John Beaton on percussion and harmonica, to form a quartet dedicated to keeping the memory of bluegrass and folk alive and thriving in Duluth.
The Branditos
5:30pm Fri 5/2 | Amazing Grace
With all the laptop groups and beard-core shoe-gazers out there these days, doesn’t it feel nice when you run into just a good ol’ fashioned, three-piece rockabilly band? The Branditos can proclaim themselves as cow punks, but their catchy, taut songs about fast women, corn whiskey and squealing tires make them a 1950s-style rock’n’roll breath of fresh air in a world thick with digitized noise. Bassist Bruce Rosera and drummer Jason Wussow provide a solid double-time, up-tempo beat for guitarist Brandon Swanson to weave his bleary-eyed shouts and grunts.
Bratwurst
12am Sat 5/3 | R.T. Quinlan’s
Duluth doesn’t have as many industrial absurdists as, say, Berlin, but it does play home to one avant-garde group unlike any other – Bratwurst. If its members are not tossing raw meat into the crowd, they’re probably too busy detonating religious idols on the other side of the stage. The music provided by guitarists Jason Ratajek and Ben Tyron along with drummer Brennan Atchison welds a grotesque soundtrack for front man Tyler Scouton’s shock-art antics. If the sparks flying off the stage make any political statement, it gets lost in how much fun these guys have blowing up Homegrown year after year.
Breanne Marie & the Front Porch Sinners
11:15pm Sun 4/27 | Carmody
Country music songstress Breanne Marie Tepler writes rustic and moving compositions that attain a fleshier sound when joined by her accompanying group, the Front Porch Sinners. These so-called sinners are guitarists Evan Tepler and John Peterson, bassist Glenn Maloney and drummer John Lamar. Breanne Marie released the album Six Strings of Peace and Sanity on New Year’s Day 2013 and has a new EP in the works titled Timothy John. She also offers singing telegrams (card and flowers included) to anyone within 75 miles of the Twin Ports.
Brother George
10:45pm Sat 5/3 | Carmody
If you’ve seen live music in Duluth, you’ve probably seen George Ellsworth. He’s been a fixture for more than a decade, playing in the bands No Room to Pogo, Hot Toddy and the Bluetones, James and Younger, and Snöbarn. A singer, guitar player and keyboardist, Ellsworth has done plenty of composing and writing on his own, including producing film and theater scores. He has occasionally performed under the name Brother George, but 2014 will be his Homegrown debut as a solo artist.
The Brothers Burn Mountain
12:15am Sat 5/3 | Rex Bar
Their music, like the band name, involves brothers, high heat, cold peaks and hermetic places. Between the imaginative chill of the lyrics and their brand of hot-iron, breakneck blues, the Brothers Burn Mountain’s distinct sound just feels at home in a sweaty, out-of-the-way-juke-joint. So if you’re wondering about that icy, far-off look in brothers Ryan (guitar) and Jesse (drums) Dermody’s eyes when tearing it up on stage, it ain’t from artistic indifference. Call it bona fide soul that bluesmen carry after touring and recording for more than 15 years.
Christoph Bruhn
11:45pm Fri 5/2 | Lake Avenue
For a quiet guy with only an acoustic guitar, Christoph Bruhn made a resounding statement with his first official solo album, Weekends on the Frontier. Using a variety of finger-picking styles, Bruhn laid out nine thoughtful instrumentals, each loaded with an unfeigned, esoteric sound. The straightforward simplicity was well received; the album ended up on more than a couple “Best of 2013” lists. Homegrown might be the last chance to catch Bruhn locally for a while; he plans to take part in an acoustic music series in Paris over the summer.
Mary Bue
6:30pm Thurs 5/1 | Red Mug
Since her musical beginnings at Amazing Grace Bakery & Café, Mary Bue has traveled the country gracing audiences with her beautiful piano melodies and lyrics, which she describes as “the retellings of adventures, mishaps and pains in the ass.” After three years in Seattle, Bue returned to Duluth in 2011 to record her fourth album Apple in the Ocean at Sacred Heart Studio. With a sound described by Providence Phoenix as “a marvelously sultry and cool voice over a fusion of classical, folk and ambient piano music,” Bue is a must-see Duluth artist. She will be joined by her husband, Kyle MacLean, on guitar.
Jack Campbell and the Skeleton Keys
11:30pm Sat 5/3 | Pizza Lucé
What erstwhile Duluthian can front three different bands, get signed to a record label as a sophomore in high school, play three-and-a-half hour solo sets at Fitger’s Brewhouse, and offer a critically acclaimed EP full of earnest garage-pop all before the age of 21? Jack Campbell, that’s who. Now residing in Chicago, the former member of Excuse Me, Princess and Shortwave is recording as a solo act, having released Absentee in summer 2013. For Homegrown he will be joined by the Skeleton Keys, featuring Jimmy Arroyo-Roppo on bass and Nate Rendulich on drums.
Cars & Trucks
9:45pm Tues 4/29 | Grandma’s
After seven years of playing hook-filled rock shows for the good people of Duluth, the members of Cars & Trucks are worrying their friends with a crisis of identity. They are doing things like covering Creedence Clearwater Revival and playing improvised instrumental sets in college planetariums while people fly virtually through space. Whether the safe familiarity of Homegrown brings them back to their old ways or sends them into yet another awesome divergence only time will tell. The band features Tony Bennett on guitar and vocals, Mat Milinkovich on drums and vocals and Matt Osterlund on bass and bass. The trio has put out three albums, the most recent of which is 2013’s Theatre Stardusk.
Hanna Cesario
9:45pm Thurs 5/1 | Thirsty Pagan
Hanna Cesario grew up around swing-band standards. Her father played saxophone in jazz groups while she studied piano and sang throughout high school and college. So when, three years ago, a friend lent her a ukulele to putz around with, Cesario haphazardly took a paradox and made, well, music. Thus, a new subgenre of artistic expression emerged: jazz ukulele. If you’ve ever wondered what “On the Sunny Side of the Street” would sound like on a miniature Hawaiian guitar, here is your chance to find out. Her full-length debut album Ain’t Misbehavin’ is due out soon.
Toby Thomas Churchill
10:45pm Tues 4/29 | Grandma’s
After years and years and years in the bands Crazy Betty and the Alrights, Toby Thomas Churchill has carved a well-earned identity for himself as a solo artist. Writing painfully intelligent alternative indie rock and death-folk-soul tunes, Churchill released his first solo album, Death, in 2011. His backing band consists of longtime collaborator Danny Cosgrove and half of the late-great Minneapolis act Roma di Luna: Ben Durrant, James Everest and Ryan Lovan. Churchill recently “shacked up” with Chaperone Records, in his own words. He has a new album in the works, planned for release mid-2014. Of note: Churchill is one of five guys who have played every single Homegrown. It’s like the Presidents Club.
Dedric Clark and the Social Animals
10:30pm Mon 4/28 | Carmody
Playing long strings of shows from Duluth to Minneapolis to Green Bay to Grand Marais, the eclectic folk group formerly known as Diet Folk never seems to sit still for long. Dedric Clark’s delicate lyrics wisp over the serene pickings of banjo player Tony Peterson and the rhythm work of drummer Boyd Smith and bassist Rodger Whittet. When not touring regionally, they have found time to release two albums, All I Need in 2011 and Cold in 2012.
Cockfight
11:45pm Sat 5/3 | Carmody
Be assured, this Cockfight is totally above-board, honest-to-god legal. Rob “Mob Ray” May (say that five times fast) and Eric “Jett Rockero” Levy serve up that same illicit thrill of an underground cockfight, but without any of the legal and moral hassle. The guitar-and-drums duo formed about 15 years ago in Duluth. Levy lives in Minneapolis and May only recently moved back to Duluth, but Duluth has always been the home of their primitive rock’n’roll.
Co¢ky Da$h
7pm Tues 4/29 | The Underground
Dion Lowe started writing music at age 7 and hasn’t stopped. He’s been busy recording his original raps at the Music Resource Center since September, and he is constantly writing new material. A native of Gary, Ind., Lowe moved to Minnesota at a young age. His influences include Roscoe Dash, Lil Wayne and Soulja Boy. “Music has always been my favorite thing to do,” Lowe says. “Becoming a rapper is now my dream, so I pray sometimes and hope it comes true.”
The Cold Starts
9pm Sat 5/3 | The Underground
Brothers Jake and Luke Wynn began their punk-rock journey three years ago with friend Casey Corcoran. It didn’t take long for them and drummer Neil Vaidyanathan to become the freshest face of the area’s hardcore scene. Songs like “Scrunge” and “Don’t Be a Dustin” blaze au courant, while at the same time sound as if they could be outtakes from Hüsker Dü’s Zen Arcade, which came out of the Minneapolis punk scene 30 years ago. Now that they’re Homegrown sophomores, you might wonder if the Cold Starts will develop a more grown-up sound. We’re guessing, thankfully, no.
Cowboy
10:30pm Thurs 5/1 | Vintage Italian Pizza
The three members of Cowboy have a lineage in northern Minnesota. Add up their years of service gigging in the Twin Ports and you’ll realize you’re hitting triple digits. This trio, playing traditionally inspired country tunes, is anchored by singer/songwriter Jim Hall and drummer Joe Lindzius, who played for nearly two decades together in Azure du Jour. This year Matt Livingston joins on bass, rounding out a trio that is sure to impress even the stodgiest of old timers not hip to modern music.
Coyote
7:30pm Sun 4/27 | Teatro Zuccone
In the non-record-breaking winter of 2007-08, Marc Gartman and Jerree Small joined forces to make a different kind of record. Matt Mobley joined them for their sophomore album in 2010. All are involved in other projects and haven’t graced a stage together much since the release of All I Feel is Night in 2012, but when they do, it’s a don’t-miss occasion. Coyote could be classified as northwoods folk-mystic music to write home about. Who can resist the magic that happens when two crooners, one banjo and a classically trained upright bass player get together?
Crew Jones
12:30am Sat 5/3 | Pizza Lucé
Catering to those who are banjonesin’ for northwoods-flavored hip-hop, Crew Jones has been blaring from shoulder-perched boomboxes and sub-laden car trunks on the gritty Twin Ports streets since 2001. Ben “Burly Burlesque” Larson and Sean “Mic Trout” Elmquist still haven’t put together a follow-up to their 2003 debut full-length album, Who’s Beach, but what good is new music anyway? In the words of Burly Burlesque, “Fuck your new favorite local rap kid. We old, and grown bold. What?”
The Crunchy Bunch
10:15pm Fri 5/2 | Rex Bar
The DJ collective known as the Crunchy Bunch is a regular feature at many events in the arts arena (and the roller-derby arena, for that matter). Under the monikers White Privilege (Chris LeBlanc), Mr. Ness (Alexis LeBlanc), Branologic (Dan Branovan) and Hazeltron (Jack Hazelton), the bunch regularly spins live sets from happy hour to closing time. Representing a variety of styles – from funk to dubstep, old skool to new skool, hip-hop, electro and mash-ups – these four rarely allow for a still body in the room. As their stickers note: “No requests. Shut up & dance.”
Abe Curran & the Blue Rooster
10pm Sat 5/3 | Fitger’s Brewhouse
On any given Tuesday night, singer/songwriter/guitarist Abe Curran can be found at Carmody Irish Pub playing laid-back roots rock with his backing duo of bassist Eric Bong and drummer Pat Bowen. Curran’s highly personal tunes are accentuated by Bong’s vocal harmonies and the trio’s forays into psychedelica and improvisation. In addition to their regular Carmody gigs, the band plays periodically at other local venues, including Thirsty Pagan Brewing and R. T. Quinlan’s Saloon. Also a talented actor, Curran has memorable appearances in the Homegrown Music Video Festival, including Loup-Garou’s “Gone From Minnesota” and the role of a lifetime as a spandex-clad kite man in The Moon Is Down’s “My Amazing Kite.”
The Current Administration
10:15pm Sun 4/27 | Carmody
Known for rowdy, heartfelt sets and claims that he’s never been on the Internet, Jeffrey James O’Loughlin has become something of an icon to a circle of musical diehards in the Twin Ports. In this new band he has teamed up with guitarist Steve Isakson and drummer Tyler Dubla, both of whom have a renowned history of rocking out in the region in a variety of bands. The band’s first album is due out around Homegrown time.
Dad’s Acid
10pm Thurs 5/1 | Norm’s
Dad’s Acid formed last summer, and since then the band has played at most of the “R” venues in Duluth: the Reef, the Roundup and the Red Star. Come expecting “loud fuzzed-out doom-surf garage rock soaked in reverb and blood,” in the words of guitarist Jacob Swanson. The band is comprised of people who probably don’t have time to be in it. Swanson is also in Planemo and the Social Disaster. Drummer Jake Paulsrud is in Wolf Blood and Dirty Horse. Bassist Nikki Moeller is in the Keep Aways.
Danecdote
7:45pm Fri 5/2 | Legacy Glass
For the past eight years Daniel Nelson has been producing various genres of music, with a focus on electronica and hip-hop. In recent times he has released an EP of remixes, as well as two full-length collections – Etc. 2.0 and The Departure. His unique style has led to collaborations with fellow Duluthians such as hip-hop rapper Scotty Vezina (a/k/a Nonfic) and Brian Ring and Sophie Turk of Lion or Gazelle. His goal: to create a bigger electronic music scene in Duluth by sharing his production abilities with local talent and merging their styles together.
De Se
11:30pm Mon 4/28 | Fitger’s Brewhouse
De Se is the latest project from the versatile and vicious Ben Butter. With a history ranging from punk to noise rock in nearly a dozen bands – including Sordes, Ty Cobb and Punch the Driver – Butter now brings a hauntingly folky set of songs that give the feeling of cabin fever under a blanket of whiskey and gunpowder. “I’ve played in grind bands, thrash-punk bands, skate-punk bands, death metal, sludge metal, skramz, folk-punk, electronic, country and noise projects,” Butter says. “De Se is my solo effort to expunge some clinging dark bits and slime off my soul.”
Dead Guys
12:45am Wed 4/30 | Gopher Lounge
Channeling the sentiments of the Prohibition era into a gritty three-piece outfit of bluesy rock and roll, Dead Guys is a timeless trio caught in limbo. The band features Zac Roorda on guitar, Josiah Early on bass and Jake Scott providing vocals and an assortment of other instruments. Akin to the likes of the Black Keys, Jack White and old photos found in your grandpa’s attic, the music of Dead Guys encompasses the sounds echoing through empty whiskey bottles and rattling down railroad tracks. The band’s debut EP, Duties, was released in 2012 and a new full-length album will be out soon.
Dead Skull
11pm Fri 5/2 | R.T. Quinlan’s
It’s not a proper Homegrown without releasing your inner mongrel that craves late nights and leaves your ears ringing as you desperately try to remember where you left your debit card. Dead Skull should sufficiently ignite that fuse with its raucous riffs, reminiscent of something heard in a 1970s-era Detroit garage. Brothers Dan and Brian Johnson, natives of Knife River, have played together for years and are packing a punch with their latest endeavor. Growing up on punk rock tapes and the lively spectacle of Duluth’s music scene in the 1990s, these two have blended their influences into a wall of sound that keeps gaining steam.
Déjà vu Drifters
9:30pm Sun 4/27 | Teatro Zuccone
Déjà vu Drifters formed in 2010, combining members of different acoustic groups dating back to 1977. Fiddle player Steve Johnson, guitarists Mike Mattson and Rick Olson, and percussionist Greg Tiburzi have more than 175 years of cumulative music experience, but they sound as bright and sleek as a ’77 Oldsmobile Cutlass. Their sound drifts from rock to reggae, country to swing, folk to pop.
Tony Derrick
7:30pm Mon 4/28 | Sir Benedict’s
Tony Derrick has been performing in the Twin Ports for 15 years as part of several noteworthy bands, including the Black Labels, Giljunko and the Tisdales. Getting his start playing in rhythm sections for various acts around town, he made his songwriting debut with the Hotel Coral Essex, which released the well-received album Glisten in 2007. With a solo album in the works for 2014, Derrick brings a blend of music that dabbles through folk, dives into grungy rock and brushes with shoegazey melodies.
Dirty Horse
10:15pm Fri 5/2 | Dubh Linn
Well known among the late-night crowd, Dirty Horse brings the grit to down-home Duluth “pontoon rock” that is said to have originated at a house party four years ago. Originally a quartet, the band now numbers five: guitarists Nate Case and Andy Olmsted, bassist Ryan Wells, drummer Jake Paulsrud and relatively new vocalist Ryan Tyrrell. Think Grand Funk Railroad meets Jeremy Messersmith and a bottle of bourbon. Known for their rowdiness, bawdy stage presence and mean riffs, these wildly accessible stallions always promise a good time.
Dirty Knobs 7:30pm Fri 5/2 | Teatro Zuccone Zac Bentz began his experimental drone project in 1999, the same year the first Homegrown Music Festival was held. And though Bentz has performed in nearly every Homegrown with one band or another, this is the first time Dirty Knobs will play the festival. Originally a minimal glitch-oriented project, Dirty Knobs has evolved over the years into an expansive, dark-ambient beast. The 2011 album Field Recordings from the Edge of Hell, an eight-hour odyssey, received international acclaim. Numerous albums, EPs and singles have been released since, including Bentz’s latest work, I Want to Live Inside the Sun, which was released in January.
DJ Delgado 11:30pm Fri 5/2 | Tycoons
Derek Delgado has been spinning hip-hop, dance and top-40 music on Duluth stages since the days of the old RoundAbout Records store, circa 2001. In addition to his solo DJ work, he has spun with the collectives Hill City Rockers and Live Animals, and continues to mix for Jaze and Bliss, MCs he ran with for 10 years in the hip-hop outfit Kritical Kontact.
DJ J. J. Lawrence
10pm Mon 4/28 | Red Star
Ten years ago, Jason Holmes got back into the DJ game. Now he has two jobs with the same goal: getting the party started. For his business, Bring the Noise Entertainment, he and his wife schedule, plan and spin combinations of urban and traditional music for weddings, fundraisers and holiday events. For his other gig, he goes into DJ J. J. Lawrence mode to creatively mix techno, house and trance for clubs and large dance events. He prides himself on a professional, positive and upbeat style that serves both projects well.
DJ Warhorse
12:15am Fri 5/2 | Red Star
When it’s time to get down and funky on the dance floor, Duluth’s wax-spinnin’ warrior is Kevin Craig. As DJ Warhorse, Craig is known to get bodies moving into the wee hours of the morning with a lethal dose of bass and pulsating hooks that rattle through brains and fly out feet. ‘Cause it ain’t nothin’ but a party.
Drohm
10:15pm Thurs 5/1 | Main Club
Phil Tyson and Tobin Dack make up the dynamic duo known as Drohm. Self-described as “electro-drone,” their highly synthesized sound is meditative in nature. The structure of the experimental noise wavelengths ebbs and flows – unique in the electronic scene. These two are both highly experienced musicians and sound engineers, who together are working toward a soundscape of the future. Drohm was also instrumental in making Duluth’s first electronic music festival, Umbrella Cloud, happen at Sacred Heart last fall.
Duck Duck Punch
12:30am Sat 5/3 | Tycoons
What might sound like a violent rendition of a favorite childhood game is actually a Duluth-born synth-pop outfit. While letting the influences of Depeche Mode and Ladytron shine through in their sound, Bryan Rudell, Trent Waterman and Ethan Skelton have a style of their own that flows through an array of subjects that strike to the heart. Their 2013 debut album, Human Chemistry, landed on College Music Journal’s top 200.
Duluth Dolls Burlesque Show
9:15pm Thurs 5/1 | Main Club
The art of seduction comes in many forms, but few are as classy and enthralling as a good burlesque show. To many, this age-old form of artistry is a memory of the past found in old saloons and Cajun juke joints. But it’s alive and well at Homegrown. The Duluth Dolls are comprised of a gang of gals who blend everything from salsa to tango into a knockout show of sass and captivating shakes. The lovely ladies bringing the “uff da” are Ruby A. More (Stef Kemp), Freya Courage (Bree Montgomery), Ella Jim (Danie Jiminez), Miss Creant (Erin Tope), June LaPurrr (Grace Holden), VeroniKa Boom (Pamela Clifton), Madame Toushe (Kathy Montgomery) and Velvet Noir (Sheila Matthews).
Todd Eckart
8pm Fri 5/2 | The Underground
After spending several years exploring the various musical communities of Los Angeles, Todd Eckart returned home to the Twin Ports in the fall of 2012. With an uncountable number of performances under his belt, Eckart brings his blend of rockabilly and old-timey country to the stage for an Americana experience that gets crowds moving. He’ll be joined by a stellar group of friends, including surf-guitar guru Jimi Cooper, drummer Matthew Groom and bassist George Ellsworth.
Curren Effinger
8:30pm Sat 5/3 | Teatro Zuccone
If the unique name weren’t enough, rising scene star Curren Effinger is an artist who gives a memorable performance every time. A regular at coffeehouse venues, this young man certainly knows how to rock. His sound is reminiscent of British stars such as Patrick Wolf or Morrissey – an edgy, yearning vocal set to electric guitar. Young, eager, hungry and backed by Hannah McDaniel on percussion, Effinger is sure to live up to his new website moniker, “The Sound & the Fury.”
The Electric Witch
11:30pm Sat 5/3 | Tycoons
If the members of Kraftwerk and Daft Punk were locked in a basement with the droogs from A Clockwork Orange and exposed to hours of 8-bit video games, the final product might sound something like the Electric Witch. Gaining notoriety across gaming blogs and other online venues, the band scans the landscape of synth noir in a robotic explosion of post-industrial science experiments. The electronic duo of Zac Bentz and Marcus Matthews have teamed up with Steph Bentz and Greg Cougar Conley to expand their sound to new extremes. Their debut album …So We Burn was released in August.
Exiles
7pm Fri 5/2 | Beaner’s
It’s been a busy year for the psychedelic hard-rock band Exiles, playing at South by Southwest last spring and opening for major-label metal bands the Aristocrats and Windhand over the summer. In September, bassist Robert Cox produced the band’s recent EP Wreck, which is available on Bandcamp. Sean Chaucer Levine’s guitar provides a solid, heavy background for frontman Flip Arkulary’s vocals. Mitch Miller holds it all together on drums. If this band has its way, its doom metal show will incorporate live eels and dead bats. Exiles is currently working on another EP. According to Arkulary, “We’re thinking about calling it Suck but Inner Beauty Pageant is another title idea.”
The Farsights
11:45pm Wed 4/30 | Gopher Lounge
The Farsights have become a regular player in the local music scene, celebrating the band’s fourth anniversary at this year’s Homegrown. Frontman Phil Jents has spent years playing acoustic folk rock with a focus on storytelling, bassist Brynn Sias is an accomplished jazz guitartist, and drummer Ryan Nelson has sharpened his teeth on punk and psych rock. These eclectic experiences come together in a unique, punk-injected folk sound. Typical of folk tradition, each song tells a compelling, often dark story. This four-eyed trio released its self-titled debut album in November.
Father Hennepin
9:45pm Sat 5/3 | Carmody
It was 16 years ago when Scott Lunt celebrated his 30th birthday with the debut of his new band, Father Hennepin. One year later he founded the Homegrown Music Festival, an event the Fat Hens have been a mainstay at – though they sat out in 2006 and 2007, making this year their 14th Homegrown performance. Lunt and Ted Anderson handle the guitar and vocal work in this good-time alt-country band. They are backed by Bob Olson on bass, Brad Nelson on drums, and Susie Ludwig on accordion and keyboards.
Fearless Moral Inventory
8:30pm Mon 4/28 | Sir Benedict’s
Gleaning their band name from a quote by Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder Bill Wilson, vocalist Andy Stern and guitarist Corey Gice launched Fearless Moral Inventory in 2007. Their stylistic roots infuse a multitude of musical influences, from heavy blues-rock to spacious, soaring themes of love and mischief. These garagesque rock tones have been spiced in recent years by Kai Bowen on drums and “Juju” Steve Karels on bass, completing the band’s inventory of sounds. A debut album is in the works for later this year.
Fever Dream
12am Sat 5/3 | Duluth Flame
Let’s be honest: Everyone wants to see Marc Gartman in a white robe and a yarmulke, jamming on a synthesizer while pulsating multi-colored lights abound. Be transported to a feverish dream world while listening to this post-bedroom electronic pop. With support by Steve Garrington, Eric Pollard and the Fever Dream Dancers, Gartman will have you transfixed. The first Fever Dream album, ’83, was released by Chaperone Records last May, hyped by five ultra hot music videos, which can be found on YouTube under “Marcfatuation.”
The Fish Heads
6:30pm Sat 5/3 | Teatro Zuccone
Looking for some old-time bluegrass instrumentation with fast, clean pickin’ and hearty harmonies? You might hear a bluegrass version of “Walk This Way,” a cover of a folk song you wish you’d always known, or an original tune that brings a tear to your eye. Kim Curtis-Monson and Mike Monson switch up on the guitar and stand-up bass, and Kim’s powerful voice combines with Mike’s to make harmonies that are transcendent. Bruce Bernhart plays mandolin and joins in on the supreme harmonies. Banjo-player Brian Ford has inspired others by doing workshops on his instrument. These musicians have played together for more than 30 years, and it is evident in their solid sound.
500 Million Society
11:30pm Wed 4/30 | Mr. D’s
Nine years ago Tim Nelson, Dicky Brooks and James Hagstrom – members of the defunct band Gild – sequestered themselves in a dark studio and formed a new group, the 500 Million Society. The mission: to write songs that question life in the new-world empire. Keyboard player Russell Sackett was added to the band about three years ago. Their self-titled debut album, released in 2010 on Spinout Records, is a rocked-out retro call to arms that emphasizes cranked organs and vintage amps. A five-song EP, The Age of Reason, followed in 2012. By combining 1960’s surf, ’70s psychedelic and ’80s new-wave punk and rock, the sound rendered is a danceable mélange. The band is working on new songs for a possible 2015 release.
Five Pints a’ Rye
11:15pm Thurs 5/1 | Reef Bar
What started out as a few basement jams that guitarists and vocalists Andy Lipke and Adam Stariha brought to the Bev’s Jook Joint stage has come full circle. Along with bassist Andy Bergstrom and drummer John Lamar, Five Pints a’ Rye began in 2010 playing its first show at Bev’s and quickly found a string of local gigs and regional festival slots. Performances have been rare in recent years, but the band’s 1960’s-inspired rock, originals and covers reemerged to play the very last set at Bev Robinson’s Superior blues landmark before it closed in January.
Bill Flannagan with Blue Cabooze
9:45pm Fri 5/2 | Carmody
Guitarist Bill Flannagan has been playing roots-rockin’ guitar-based shows around the area for many years, appearing at Homegrown every year since 2003. This year, he will be joined by Blue Cabooze, which includes harmonica and bass player Paul Vogel. They have played just about every club or pub around the Arrowhead region, performing all kinds of rock and roll, countrified – from slow to fast; sad to happy. There could be additional surprises at the show, such as some fiddle music or percussion, but no matter what, this band will deliver the perfect mix of rock, classic country and blues.
The Fontanelles
12:15am Fri 5/2 | Rex Bar
Stability wins the day. After five years of running through a hodgepodge of members, the rocking Fontanelles have had the same lineup for about two years. After three tries at an album, it looks like things might get laid down this spring, singer-songwriter and Duluth native Dave Mehling says. Expect to hear some fresh tracks. It’s a one-night affair for the Minneapolis quartet since bass player Beau Jeffrey is having a bachelor party Saturday night. That fact should make for a hell of a show as Mehling, drummer Jason McGlone and guitar player Darin Rieland send their friend off to wedded bliss.
The Formal Age
11:15pm Mon 4/28 | Dubh Linn
This Duluth five-piece might be the rockingest band ever to perform at the St. Louis County Health & Human Service Conference, a gig that happened in October. Now on its fourth Homegrown Music Festival (the first year they were known as A Team/B Team), the group features former members of Twin Ports bands the Undesirables, the Casey Dagans and Weasel. Together drummer Adam Helbach, guitarist Jacob Jonker, keyboard player Phil McGrath, bassist Jason Rahman and guitarist Ryan Wiisanen craft power-pop/rock dressed up with vocal harmonies contributed by the whole band. In 2014 the Formal Age will at long last release a debut album, recorded with Rich Mattson at Sparta Sound and due out in time for Homegrown.
Four Mile Portage
10:45pm Fri 5/2 | Lake Avenue
It’s fitting that Brandy Forsman and Tom Maloney’s second date was at a folk dance sponsored by Duluth’s Tamarack Dance Association. The two eventually married, started playing fiddle and banjo together and have become regular accompanists at those same dances. Their love of singing led them to branch out beyond dance music to create Four Mile Portage, named for an impractically long, now rarely used trail near Forsman’s hometown of Ely. The duo performs a repertoire of traditional Appalachian tunes and originals, including “songs about whiskey and chickens, or sometimes about loss and perseverance,” every other Wednesday at Amazing Grace Bakery & Café. In 2010 the couple released their own home-recorded album and in 2011 they appeared on Charlie Parr’s album Keep Your Hands on the Plow.
Frances Lee Williams Band
11:45pm Sun 4/27 | Tycoons
The smooth and powerful vocal musings of Stephanie Longstreet combine with the funky and eloquent bass lines of George Ellsworth and the hip-hop-like backbeat provided by Chad Erlemeier in this new Duluth trio. Each member is known in the music community for their part in other projects РLongstreet in the Brushstrokes and Three Song Sunday, Ellsworth in Sn̦barn and James and Younger, and Erlemeier in Loup-Garou and Beachfight. Together they have hit the scene with a set list of new foot-stomping tunes.
Fuzzy Ellis
11pm Tues 4/29 | Lake Avenue
The list of other bands the members of Fuzzy Ellis perform in is lengthy, so the names of the individual musicians will likely be recognizable to even casual fans of the Duluth music scene. Jason Wussow, Mark Glen, Jimi Cooper and Tyler Dubla create a ska-tastic sound in this jazz-inspired project, sprinkled with some swingin’ surf vibes and reggae influence.
The Getarounds
6:30pm Sat 5/3 | Amazing Grace
The simple strings and honest harmony of Dan Dresser and Gaelynn Lea in the Getarounds is proof of their decade-long dedication to musical creations, connections and collaborations. They formed their duo during the dark winter months of 2012, and last summer released a live six-song EP recorded at Beaner’s Central. Their plan for an upcoming studio album is to combine contributions of their many friends and colleagues for a merry and all-the-more magical LP.
Gina Lee
10pm Tues 4/29 | Lake Avenue
Since getting her start singing in church, Gina Lee Welsh-Rabold has played in a rock band in Bismarck, a country and western band in Tacoma and Seattle, and now as a solo folk/rock act in Duluth. This singer/guitarist spent years honing her craft in her home music studio, where she recorded her first album, Simply Imperfect, in 2003. In 2011 she decided it was time to emerge from the studio and get back to regular live performance. Since then, Gina Lee has gigged regularly around the Twin Ports area, except during tax season when her day job as an accountant keeps her busy. This January she released a second disc, A Soft Place to Land.
The Good Colonels
10:30pm Sat 5/3 | Pizza Lucé
The Good Colonels are back. After a yearlong hiatus, guitarist Codie Leseman has returned from his travels abroad and is ready for another Homegrown. The members of the band originally met around 2002 when they were punk kids living on the Iron Range. Curtis Mattson and Leseman decided to start a new band when they were both living in Duluth in 2007. A year later, Joe Conaway slid his way into playing bass with the Colonels, and they’ve been exploring their sound ever since. With Leseman on guitar, throwing out distorted melodies, and Mattson on the drums kicking out a fast beat, the sound is an experimentation of indie rock, and whatever new noise they can think to create next. Their most recent album was Friendship and Freedom Forever, which came out in 2012, but they are working on new material to debut at this year’s festival.
Todd Gremmels 11:30pm Sat 5/3 | Sir Benedict’s
“You name it we do it!!!” exclaims the irrepressible Todd Gremmels, referring to his band that he hasn’t put together yet. Who might those band members end up being? “A cast of thousands!!!” Gremmels exclaims, because he exclaims everything. From his days with the UMD Orchestra and ensembles in the mid-1970s to his more recent endeavors – like screaming out Led Zeppelin covers and marching around with a snare drum strapped to his chest at Carmody or performing the overture to his indie opera at Club Saratoga – everything Gremmels does is different, but it always ends the same … with multiple exclamation points!!!
Group Too
1:30pm Sun 5/4 | Canal Park Brewing
Group Too has been part of the Duluth music scene for the past 13 years. Originally a duo, Bob and Carol Flatt added guitar player Israel Malachi to the lineup about four years ago. They play blues and folk originals with a 1960s and ’70s flavor.
Preston Gunderson
9pm Sat 5/3 | Beaner’s
Acoustic singer/songwriter Preston Gunderson released his second full-length album in October. Getting Good at Starting Over was recorded at the Terrarium in Minneapolis, funded by a successful Kickstarter campaign. A native of the Iron Range, Gunderson spent five years in Duluth attending the College of St. Scholastica before returning home to Virginia. His previous album, While I was Gone cracked the top 200 on the iTunes pop charts, and his EP The Recluse peaked at no. 25 on the iTunes Singer Songwriter Music Chart.
Wes Hadrich and Greg Tiburzi
11:30pm Mon 4/28 | Carmody
Wes Hadrich has been writing music and playing songs in Duluth since the late 1990s. He teamed up with drum/bass player Greg Tiburzi in 2007, and late last year added guitar player Steve Isakson to his band. Inspired by the Bakersfield sound of Wynn Stewart, Buck Owens and Dwight Yoakam, the trio is working on a new album of Americana and honky-tonk songs at Sparta Sound.
Hannah Rey
12am Tues 4/29 | Lake Avenue
When’s she’s not playing in the cover band South of Superior, Hannah Rey Dunda plies her gritty indie-folk vocals and acoustic guitar as a solo act. She grew up in the wilds of Two Harbors and has played every hole-in-the-wall, festival and benefit from there to here and even First Avenue in Minneapolis. This is her third Homegrown.
Hard Feelings
11:30pm Thurs 5/1 | Superior Flame
Drummer Mike Wilson, bassist Pat Laney and guitarist Seth Borovsky have logged some darn good van hours in the short life of their punk group Hard Feelings. In 2013, they toured the East Coast behind the full-length vinyl album Swell. So, what’s the stratagem for this year, you ask? Pretty much business as usual: Write a bunch of heart-felt basement thrashers, put them on vinyl, get in the van and play as many shows on the road as their collective lives allow.
Emily Havoc
8:30pm Thurs 5/1 | Red Mug
For a fleeting moment, Emily Haavik accepted the suggestion that her band should be called “Emily Havoc.” Then she changed her mind. Her piano-driven indie rock with a touch of “slightly less folky-folk” sound doesn’t quite seem to suit the moniker. “I feel it would be misleading, as we are not very hardcore,” Haavik said a few weeks before she unchanged her mind and went back to calling her band Emily Havoc because “it’s so funny.” The indecisive virtuoso’s band is made up of Beau Walsh, Lisa Wentworth, Bryan Wentworth, Alyssa Mesedahl and Luke Mirau.
The Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank
12am Mon 4/28 | Red Star
Brothers and songwriters Teague and Ian Alexy make up the folk group known as the Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank. Though they had been acclaimed musicians since teaming up in 2006, last year saw them take their popularity to new levels. Going into the studio after coming off extended touring, they recorded Number One Contender, an album full of laid-back Americana grit with heartfelt, observational introspection. It was hailed as one of the year’s best releases by a variety of publications, including the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The duo continues to tour with trips to the Rocky Mountain states and Midwest this spring.
Holy Hootinanners
2:30pm Sun 5/4 | Canal Park Brewing
Down in tiny Mahtowa, in a field adjacent to Rob’s Tavern, a sneaky-good weekend mini-Homegrown takes place every August called the Highway 61 Folks Festival. This year, Colleen Myhre brings a stable of players from there to a Homegrown stage: “This perfect storm of mixed ages, ability and love of music has come together at a little Lutheran church in Mahtowa,” Myhre says. She calls the sound of harmonies, twangs and foot-stomping gospel “akin to that of the Carter Family.” Listeners won’t be able to contain their own hoots as Myhre plays with bassist Jeff Gilbertson, pianist Caleb Anderson, drummer Luke Lekander, lead-guitar player Doug Soukkala, banjoist Jon Zymslony, mandolin player Brooke Anderson and vocalists Zach Langhorst and Erin Langhorst.
The Horror
12:15am Thurs 5/1 | Main Club
Describing their style as “experimental aggressive space-rock or something,” members of the Horror play it loud and strange. Three years ago they took the “New Band Night” stage at Lucé for their second show as a band and have been suckling the teat of the North Shore music scene ever since. The band features the normally sharp-looking KDLH reporter Billy Wagness, who has spent the past couple years moonlighting as the cross-dressing synth-artist Sullie J. Fields of Bad Miranda. Guitarist Joe Conaway and drummer Anders Lundahl drive up from Minneapolis to complete the trio. Lundahl says “middle-aged business men with shitty goatees have accidentally wandered into the Red Star and reviewed our shows.” The consensus of said businessmen being: “That was fucking weird, man. Good luck making any fucking money.'”
Horse & Rider
11:30pm Fri 5/2 | Pizza Lucé
Things were moving along well for Horse & Rider. Together since 2002 as Farewell Tour, the band recorded a couple of well-received albums and demos. After the keyboardist relocated, they changed the name to Horse & Rider and released their most accomplished, high-powered collection of pop-punk songs penned by guitarist Matt Osterlund and drummer Mat Milinkovich. So what does bassist C. J. Keller decide to do? Phhht … he goes back to school, leaving the band on hiatus until graduation. Well, the good news is he graduated, and the boys are back with new songs and a new member, guitarist Andy Pletcher.
Indulge
10pm Sat 5/3 | R.T. Quinlan’s
Going to an Indulge show is kind of like witnessing a ritualistic caveman feast, but with more pizza, beer and dudes. Formed in 2008 to showcase the guttural noises Kyle O’Leary can make, the Duluth-born power-violence band has gained a reputation of off-the-wall performances full of food and depravity. With animal expert Ryan Sinz on drums, professional punker Ryan Childs on bass and Manowar enthusiast Mike Wilson on guitar, the band’s new lineup will bring a heaping plate of riffs to the crowd with all inhibitions left in the Dorito dust.
Ire Wolves
10:15pm Wed 4/30 | Kom-on-Inn
In the fall of 2011, guitar player Mike Trepanier and drummer Tim Simmons recruited bassist Dustin Fennessey to join their new band, Soma. The name changed to Ire Wolves at the start of 2013, but the mission remained the same: pushing the creative boundaries of heavy music by combining sludge with an atmospheric rhythm. With three songs on SoundCloud, the band is working on recording a concept album loosely based on the life of the Buddha Siddhartha Gautama.
Iron Range Outlaw Brigade
12:15am Sat 5/3 | Red Star
The Virginia-based Iron Range Outlaw Brigade earns Homegrown veteran status for its fifth year of bringing its jarring fusion of punk rock, country and rockabilly “like a poorly-mixed drink at a dive bar.” The band is led by guitarist Kirk Kjenaas, backed by bassist Fred Hanson, drummer Glen Mattson and the 10-string pedal steel stylings of John Peterson. They’ve released three albums to date, including a live split CD with Wyatt Famous recorded at Beaner’s Central. A new album is in the works at Sparta Sound.
Jaze
10:45pm Fri 5/2 | Legacy Glass
Duluth native Jesse “Jaze” Unger spent a decade rockin’ stages with Kritical Kontact, a band that said farewell at last year’s Homegrown. Since well before the band’s departure, Unger has been working on a solo career, lately playing shows with popular Twin Cities artists Prof, DJ Abilities, Carnage and Sage Francis. Focused on spreading hip hop around the region, Jaze has contributed to the scene as one of the organizers and hosts of Mic Check Mondays, a monthly hip-hop and rhythm-and-blues showcase. He can also be found performing with Bliss, Legitimit, Nonfic or Strictly Hammers rocking crowds into frenzies, and is hoping to release his first full-length album sometime this year.
Steve Johnson
9:30pm Mon 4/28 | Sir Benedict’s
Duluth music fans might recall Steve Johnson’s band Sight Like December. The sextet stormed onto the Duluth/Superior music scene in 2002 and played memorable shows with passionate indie-emo songs for seven years. These days, Johnson still dons a guitar and uses his songs to relate stories, but the stage isn’t jam packed with various musicians combining clusters of sounds and styles. He’s simplified his act in a more traditional folk and blues format, giving his body of work a fresh breath and rawer edge.
Tim Kaiser
6:30pm Fri 5/2 | Teatro Zuccone
Using a combination of instruments that look and sound like something out of a 1950s sci-fi movie, Tim Kaiser takes his audience on an experimental audio trip with a few sweeps of his hands and tinkering of his hand-built instruments. Like a mad, but brilliant, audio scientist, the Duluth native produces otherworldly sounds. Just before last year’s Homegrown he released the album Microphone Obscura in cassette format and followed it up in August with the Giganto Destructo EP in pocket CDR format.
The Keep Aways
10:30pm Fri 5/2 | Pizza Lucé
Mindy Johnson and Nikki Moeller have been at it as the Keep Aways for a dozen years now – most of them with drummer Chris Warne. This year could be the biggest yet for the renowned punk group. Expect a new 7-inch single, along with a box set of vinyl that includes previously released recordings and outtakes. And, if we’re lucky, they might again host a certain infamous party after a certain infamous kickball game.
Kraig James
10am Sat 5/3 | Chester Creek
Cloquet native Kraig James Erickson started playing music in the early 1990s when he traded a hand-built computer for a Kay bass and Stella acoustic with a guy who ran lights for the Grateful Dead. Later he was the bass player in the Twin Cities indie-pop-rock band Busy Signal. His roots pulled him back up north, where he took over a decade off from performing to raise kids and put his energies into co-founding the Highway 61 Folks Festival. These days he hosts the Streetcar Songwriters Series at the Streetcar Kitchen and Pub in Carlton, and helps organize the Northern Train Music Festival at Mont Du Lac. For a while he was gigging under the name James Duluth, but earlier this year he started playing his toe-tapping campfire tunes under the moniker of his first and middle names.
Kristy Marie & Jim Hall
7:30pm Tues 4/29 | Amazing Grace
Kristy Marie O’Neill has been part of Duluth’s music scene for seven years, playing solo shows and in the bands Bird by Bird and Nur Jehan Chisti. Jim Hall has been around a little longer and been in a few more bands – specifically, he started playing nearly 50 years ago and in the past decade has played Homegrown with Cowboy, Spotted Mule, Wet Dog and Lo-fi. This new partnership – Kristy Marie & Jim Hall – has been formed with an ear toward folk music. They are backed on drums by Bryce Kastning.
Sarah Krueger
10:15pm Sat 5/3 | Rex Bar
It’s been four years since Sarah Krueger took on the role of solo singer-songwriter, following her days as lead singer of Heavy J and the Fantastics. She continues to prove her commitment to creative exploration by using the inspiration of life on the North Shore to write emotionally relatable songs accompanied by her penetratingly soulful voice. She has spent the past few months recording songs at Real Phonic Studio in Minneapolis with Steve Garrington, Eric Pollard, J. T. Bates, Frankie Lee, Sean Carey and Ben Lester. For Homegrown she will be performing old and new songs with Nate Case, Kyle Keegan, Brian Wells and Jordan Taylor.
Lay Low & Bender
8:30pm Fri 5/2 | Amazing Grace
This three-piece out of Proctor was formed by multi-instrumentalist Keir Gellatly. After a few months of moonlighting as a session player with Mikey Talented and the Ugly Mugs, he joined up with a few high school buddies, bassist Ben Anderson and drummer Steve Lueck, to play original pop/folk tunes with a hint of 1990s nostalgia.
Lee Jeffrey
10:15pm Tues 4/29 | Prøve Gallery
Lee Peterson creates haunting experimental folk electronica. He has performed in the Twin Ports for the past five years, and is best known for his work with the band Loup-Garou. Over the course of 2013 he released a two-part EP, The Done is Done Cassettes, and the single “Small Talk.” He layers his raspy vocals and “lush and proud folk music” with psychedelic electronics, singings about subjects such as death, the supernatural, love and religion.
Lee Lah Sohn
8:30pm Sun 4/27 | Teatro Zuccone
Multi-instrumentalist Haley Lawson began performing in 2008. She offered her fiddle and cello talents to different groups while developing her own original sound. Now, as a solo acoustic guitar and banjo performer, she goes by the project name of Lee Lah Sohn. Lawson often brings her meditative folk style to cozy venues such as Red Mug, Fitger’s Brewhouse, the Underground and Beaner’s Central. She has also held a monthly residency at Thirsty Pagan Brewing. For Homegrown, bassist Logan Amys and drummer Mike Lueck plan to join her.
Legitimit
11pm Mon 4/28 | Red Star
Lawrence LeTouneau has been slinging forward-thinking rhymes under the name Legitimit for 14 years. He developed his skills to pay the bills while a member of the now defunct crew Kritical Kontact, and has gone on to release two solo albums of his own full of hard beats and conscientious lyrics. While some who preach don’t necessarily practice, Legitimit literally puts the money where his mouth is by often raising money from his shows for various local charities. His third album One Chance is set to drop in 2014.
Lion or Gazelle
9:45pm Mon 4/28 | The Rex
Duluth’s rock-and-roll chameleon Brian Ring fronts his latest project with the haunting songstress Sophie Turk. Their harmonies hang in the air like a thick Twin Ports’ fog throughout their EP, There’s Blood in the Fire, released in 2013 on Chaperone Records. Their ethereal folk sound is created by the pair’s acoustic guitar and Pianet, held in place by Matt Mobley’s stand-up bass. They have been featured on KUMD, the Current and WDSE-TV’s The Playlist.
The Lockpicks
9pm Tues 4/29 | The Underground
This three-piece indie folk band from Two Harbors is made up of Eli Hebl on guitar, Hunter McCullough on drums and Dennis Pearson on piano. The trio grew up on the music of the Everly Brothers and the Band, as well as modern acts like Dry the River and Fleet Foxes. Their music is characterized by tight vocal harmonies, whimsical lyrics and catchy foot-stomping song arrangements.
Low
8:15pm Sat 5/3 | Sacred Heart
After 21 years, Low still found a way to take a signature sound and make another statement in 2013. At a highly anticipated Rock the Garden performance in Minneapolis, Al Sparhawk’s guitar, Steve Garrington’s bass and Mimi’s Sparhawk’s drums issued a slow moving, 27-minute, one-song set, ending with remarks opposing unmanned military technology. Their “Drone, Not Drones” manifesto made waves with hipsters around the globe, some in support of artistic protest, some bored with it, some angered by it. Either way, it says a lot for a band known for sublime, quiet testimony.
Low Forms
11pm Sat 5/3 | R.T. Quinlan’s
Low Forms have no intention of wasting time, yours or theirs. Pete Biasi, Dave Frankenfeld and Jeremy Ehlert specialize in fast-paced, three-minute, verse-chorus-verse, punk rock without frills. The trio-known on stage as Pete Form, Dave Form and Jer Form – debuted in 2010 playing tightly-wrapped, catchy and arresting noise. They have toured the Midwest and play regular slots at local rock venues. Like any good punk band, a handful of 7-inch singles and a full-length cassette tapes are in the making for 2014.
Low-Hi Funk
9:45pm Fri 5/2 | Legacy Glass
When Nick Pawlenty, the electronic musician/producer behind Strictly Hammers, caught a performance by rapper Chad Brown he was compelled to join forces. He shared some ideas and mixes with the baritone lyricist, and within two weeks a deal was struck. Now, when recording or sharing a stage, they go by the name Low-Hi Funk. Pawlenty goes by the stage name MidiEvil and Brown performs as C-Silence. Their project features hard-hitting yet positive insight on the mic and silvery, melodic beats from behind the tables. This fast-developing dyad has released a handful of tracks for a forthcoming EP The HitchHiker’s Guide to Universal Destiny.
Malec
10:15pm Sat 5/3 | Red Star
Guitarist Shawn Burr and bassist Kevin Malec have made creative metal music together for almost 15 years. They’ve gone through different vocalists, back up singers, and drummers over that time, but these days, Josh White, Samantha Burr and Tom Anderson amply hold those positions respectively. Though it has been in the works for years, their 20-song double album might finally see the light of day sooner before later. They have kept a low profile since October due to family obligations (new babies) and recording obligations (final mixes) making Homegrown a welcome return to their live performances.
Glenn Maloney
10pm Fri 5/2 | Fitger’s Brewhouse
Glenn Maloney moved to Duluth from Milwaukee in 2006. His band, the Moon is Down, quickly became a fixture in the local music scene, but of late he’s also been playing solo gigs and serving as the bass player for Breanne Marie and the Front Porch Sinners. For his solo work, Maloney says he plays his guitar like he’s “a volcano exploding dragons into the vast reaches of space,” which could also be said of his work with the Moon is Down. He says his lyrics “cover the expanse of the human condition, from being killed and eaten by rampaging trolls to, I don’t know, some other really cool and brutal stuff.”
Man on the Moon
11:45pm Mon 4/28 | The Rex Inspired by the collective creative energy on display in Dave Grohl’s documentary, Sound City, Brad Fernholz is working on taking his own music to a new level. The lineup of his former band, Bradical Boombox, has been altered a bit and given a new direction. The focus is now on collaboration over simply playing Fernholz’s songs. Bradical Boombox members Brynn Sias and Diane Fernholz are joined in this new group by Mat Milinkovich and Tony Derrick. The band name Man on the Moon is a nod to a 1992 song by Sugar, as well as a reference to Brad’s personal relationship with Duluth. No matter how many miles away, Fernholz is a friend who watches over and cares for the Zenith City as best he can.
Manheat
10:30pm Thurs 5/1 | Superior Flame
This three-piece rock band describes itself on Facebook as “loud, fast, and awesome … post-slop.” And that pretty much sums it up. Bassist Jay Whitcomb’s fiery lyrics are usually shouted over the top of the well-timed, hardcore combination of Brennan Atchison on drums and Jake Larson on guitar. They have released one album Hotel Suicide, performed live on MPR’s The Current, were featured on WDSE-TV’s The Playlist, and took part in the Low tribute show at Sacred Heart Music Center. Lately, the boys have hunkered down in the studio, recording three cassette EPs. The first of the series, Punk, was released in March.
Markus J. Dandy & the Complete Lack Thereof
7:30pm Sat 5/3 | Teatro Zuccone
Alexandria native Mark Blom has made Duluth his home for most of the past eight years. His band Markus J. Dandy and the Complete Lack Thereof is the vehicle for producing a spectrum of music that falls between folk and punk, with quirky lyrics that tend to be a tongue-in-cheek observation of the human experience. Joining Blom are drummer Tyler Dubla and bassist Mark Glen.
Rich Mattson and the Northstars 12:15am Wed 4/30 | Players
Veteran rocker Rich Mattson of Sparta Sound recording studio – and bands the Tisdales and Ol’ Yeller – has a new project: Rich Mattson and the Northstars. “The music is a mellow acoustic style,” Mattson says, “with scrumptious harmonies and interesting lyrics that tickle the noggin.” Joining Mattson on guitars and vocals is the woman he calls his “true love” Germaine Gemberling. The other Northstar is Rich’s nephew, Curtis Mattson, who handles the drums and percussion.
Hannah McDaniel
11am Sun 5/4 | Pizza Lucé
She is still not of legal drinking age, but this young musician and writer has already become somewhat of a Homegrown veteran. She drummed for Presently Skyward at the 2012 festival and performed as a solo guitarist in 2013. Though she considers her sound minimalist and dissonant, her eleven-song demo recording offers a lot more than a couple of chords and bland emoting. Her fretwork features sophisticated progressions, and vocally she goes far beyond simply putting a teenager’s diary to music.
Rick McLean
12pm Sun 5/4 | Pizza Lucé
Having recently made the transition from “getting drunk and playing guitar at parties to playing in public,” Rick McLean has been honing his craft during open mics at Sir Benedict’s and Fitger’s Brewhouse. Now the avid music fan and KUMD DJ is ready to bring his own show to the bright lights of Homegrown. McLean combines enough elements of punk, polka and rock into his folk music that it barely qualifies as folk, but a guy playing acoustic guitar and throwing in occasional harmonica can’t completely avoid the folk label. There’s enough about drinkin’, fightin’ and otherwise partyin’ in his lyrics, however, to keep Joan Baez at a distance.
Robi Meyerson
10:30pm Mon 4/28 | Fitger’s Brewhouse
The world needs more musicians like Robi Meyerson. With most of the mass media focused on the fraudulent providence of American Idol and America’s Got Talent, Meyerson brings her gift to schools, libraries, churches, zoos, museums, rural diners and assisted-living homes. Over the past 12 years, this teacher and mother has recorded nine albums, including two children’s CDs full of uplifting acoustic originals about all things puppies, swing sets and jump rope. Her performances often encourage audience members to openly share in the music experience by singing along, dancing, and using percussion instruments.
Mikey Talented
8pm Sat 5/3 | The Underground
After a near decade of performing, partying, and three “last show ever” gigs, 2013 proved the most productive for this four-piece ska/punk band. Guitarist Matt Stroozas worked with bassist Keir Gellaty and drummer Joey Buchanan to develop a stronger musical kinesis while vocalist Dann Fuhs continued to bring energy and chaotic spark to the live sound. This resulted in their first full-length recording and a long list of high voltage shows at the local colleges, clubs and house parties. This year already looks to be as equally bountiful with an emphasis on writing and their first professional recording sessions.
Misnomer
10:15pm Fri 5/2 | Red Star
Revered by her peers for having the most extensive record collection in Duluth and Minneapolis – featuring rare funk, house and disco – Nola Wick has been displaying her knowledge of all genres and her talents as a turntablist for the past decade. She can be found DJing locally at the Red Star, R. T. Quinlan’s and private parties. This year her performance will be sure to highlight all of those rare finds spun into a solid house dance party.
Mr. Kickass
10:30pm Sat 5/3 | Tycoons
For 13 years Mr. Kickass has done just that: kicked butt with a fiery brand of punk rock. Since meeting at the legendarily dark and besotted Red Lion Lounge in 2001, Mike Fradenburgh and Jed Olson have brought their basement-style, no frills, D.I.Y. ethos to stages across the Twin Ports. They have recorded a handful of demos and released them as unofficial one-off singles via Facebook and Soundcloud. The backend of the trio has gone through numerous members over the years, with the latest addition being the capable Jake Daire on drums.
The Murder of Crows
12am Sat 5/3 | Fitger’s Brewhouse
A little bit of mystery follows the duo of violinist Gaelynn Lee and guitarist Alan Sparhawk. The band name itself, the Murder of Crows, and the title of the debut EP Imperfecta both beg questions of definition. And it seems just as fitting that the musical riddles they create weave Sparhawk’s ethereal, éclat six-string with the distinctive melodies set forth from Lee’s violin while vocal harmonies flutter over the airy instrumentation like mythological sirens calling above a Lake Superior fog. Spooookeeeee.
Colleen Myhre
7:30pm Wed 4/30 | Beaner’s
This country-blues songwriter specializes in down-to-earth empathy on a wide variety of topics such as horses, strippers and whiskey. The hard-boiled Myhre has brought her folksy style to the Northland for over five years by performing at a diverse group of coffee shops, pubs and auditoriums. She can play heart-felt solo acoustic numbers as deftly as foot-stomping boogie-woogie when joined by accompanying musicians. She has released a handful of recordings and live videos since 2011.
Nonfic
11:15pm Fri 5/2 | Red Star
If you’ve ever wondered what would eventually come crawling from the ashes of all those Hippie Dick’s Basement shows that included inebriated poetry readings, Crew Jones melt downs, and fuse-blowing punk bands … he’s arrived. Age-wise, it was probably illegal for youngster Scott Vezina to sneak into those events, but art-wise, it turned him into the very talented punk/poet/rapper Nonfic. The hip-hop tracks he’s released as Internet singles are polished and precise beyond his 23 years. His latest performances have given clues to what the next generation of Duluth artistry will sound like. His debut album drops later this year.
North Wind Flute Choir 6:15pm Sat 5/3 | Sacred Heart
Finally, Duluth’s professional and amateur flutists will gather on one stage during Homegrown. North Wind Flute Choir is an ensemble comprised of retirees, students, music educators and college professors playing flutes of different voicings, including the piccolo, concert flute, alto flute in G, and bass flute. If all of the members can manage to show up on the same night, the group will include Dawn Silvestrini and Bobbi Tomasetti on piccolo; Deb Fenlason, Tara Grubbe, Sondra Mowers, Kathy Neff, Betty Preus, Dawn Silvestrini, Kathy Stenehjem, Chloe Thomas, Summer Thomas, Abby Valine, William VanValkenburg and Clara Wodny on flute; David Craig, Karen Keenan and Cindy Spillers on alto flute; and Ray Aiken on bass flute. Director Melanie Sever says the styles of music they perform include classical, traditional, pop, folk and jazz.
Number One Common
10:45pm Sat 5/3 | Legacy Glass
From 1999 until 2009, Number One Common represented Duluth’s most recognizable metal/alternative/hip-hop band. Playing hundreds of shows around town and touring the Midwest, NOC released numerous albums and opened for national headliners like Coal Chamber, Hatebreed and King Diamond. Their hard-charged style gets its in-ya-face attitude from front man Cory Jezierski and longtime drummer Dan Holmi. The windstorm of guitars is supplied by Mikey Trifilette, Garret Schroeder, and bassist Jesse Johnson. They reunited briefly for a one-off show in spring 2013; Homegrown will be their first show since then.
Nur Jehan Chisti
7pm Fri 5/2 | The Underground
Nur Jehan Chisti is expanding Duluth’s spiritual/world music scene. Kristy Marie O’Neill incorporates ancient chants from around the globe into the band’s modern melodies. Bryce Kastning, who came to the Twin Ports around a year ago from the Twin Cities, has been the sound designer, engineer and drummer for the band. Playing mad skills on guitar is Sufi Mystic, Hakim Dan Galagher. Come get your spiritual implosion on.
Old Knifey
11:15pm Wed 4/30 | Players
Adam Depre’s songwriting is a return to a pure, simplified sound – old-fashioned, hard-luck country songs that serve as a tribute to the no-bullshit, blue-collar Duluth neighborhood bars he favors. These days Old Knifey is a solo performer, but many of his songs are from his days with the Cutthroats, the band he released The Friendly West End EP with in 2012. His new sound is a back-to-basics, stripped-down re-envisioning of the sad-bastard tales he’s been conceiving on West Duluth barstools for years.
Bryan Olds Band
8:30pm Wed 4/30 | Beaner’s
The Bryan Olds Band has seen a number of lineup changes over the past four years. Singer, guitar player and namesake Bryan Olds has been the only constant, but drummer Matthew Groom has been there and back again for most of the ride. Newish to the lineup are bassist John Favell and electric guitar player Andy Lipke. All members of the current lineup live in Duluth’s Central Hillside, where they have been working on the new music to add to their set list of favorites from the band’s 2012 debut album Three Summers.
Paper Parlor
10:45pm Mon 4/28 | The Rex
Some young blood runs through Paper Parlor, but that doesn’t shy the band away from exploring life, love and emotion. Band members Kirdan Wenger, Wilson Johnson, Mitchell Selin and Chad Erlemeier continue to produce and play indie/folk music with the agenda of having a kick ass time. Half of the band grew up in International Falls, forming in 2010. Selin and Erlemeier joined the group in July 2013, right after Wenger and Johnson packed up and moved south to Duluth.
The People Say Fox
10:15pm Wed 4/30 | Clyde Iron
This alt-rock group has put together quite the body of work since its outset in 2008. Two full-length records, a 7-inch single, multiple tours opening for acts like Cloud Cult, Motion City Soundtrack and Quietdrive, and Homegrown appearances from 2010 to present are just notches in the belt for the People Say Fox. The band’s real accomplishment is the vast collection of slow building emo-anthems it has come to be known for. Nate Holte and Zac Roorda’s guitars frame together soft resonance, while bassist Mike Billig and drummer Rio Daugherty orchestrate pop-rock tempos behind Holte’s gallant lyrics. Expect a third full-length album this year.
Peter Pain 11:45pm Fri 5/2 | Carmody
Bob Monahan’s artistic résumé includes producing a handful of poetry chapbooks, fronting two weirdo bands – Haus Meeting and Total Freedom Rock, launching Duluth’s premier record label – Chaperone Records, and performing naughty poetry as the spoken word artist Peter Pain. How naughty are his poems? Well, last year he was kicked off the stage at a certain strip club during a Homegrown performance. It’s a little unclear if the content of the poetry was the reason for the ejection or not, but either way it is more evidence Monahan is fulfilling his mission – “informing the modern world of what it really is to not just be alive, but to be alive.”
Phantom Ship 11pm Sat 5/3 | Fitger’s Brewhouse
Scott Gusts, the solo artist behind Phantom Ship, says his electronica project is “best described as Depeche Mode meets Matthew Dear for tea at a hash bar on Saturn, with Deepchord and Holy Other riding the controls at 89 BPMs.” His music is influenced by time spent in Berlin, but is intended to be perfect for chilling out by Lake Superior. Gusts offers a live set with one continuous flow of music-no breaks.
Phillip of Nazareth
10:15pm Wed 4/30 | Players
They might try to come across as smart-aleck emo punks, but after seven years of shows you know there is more there than loud guitars and cheap beer. Josh Mutchler’s guitar seems more in tune these days, while bassist Andy Pletcher and drummer Cory Coffman have developed softer tempos not realized in their early performances. And now you can add a horn section made up of trombonist Will Collins to their maturation.
Planemo
7pm Sat 5/3 | The Underground
In astronomy, a planemo is a rounded object in space that holds enough mass to achieve hydrostatic equilibrium, but not enough to initiate core-fusion. You know, like Pluto and stuff. In musicality, Planemo is a three-piece indie shoe-gaze rock band from Duluth made up of guitarist Jacob Swanson, bassist Matt Donoghue and drummer Zach Anderson. They formed in 2011 and started turning heads shortly after when they played a stirring set at Homegrown’s New Band Night. They have two furtive recordings under their belt, The Living Room Demo (2011) and Live at Tycoons (2012).
Portage
6:30pm Fri 5/2 | Amazing Grace
Though the guys in Portage brought their own brand of northern Minnesota roots rock down to the big city of Minneapolis, their musical ethos remains true to the East Hillside Duluth attic they originally rehearsed and recorded in. Trent Waterman (vocals, guitar), Dave Mehling (guitar, keys), Jason Hildebrandt (bass), and Adam Rosenthal (drums) drift easily between rocking out stages like the iconic 7th Street Entry to doing soft acoustic sing-a-longs on living room couches. They’ve released two albums since 2011; the aforementioned Unsalted Sea and their sophomore recording, Landings.
Portrait of a Drowned Man
6pm Fri 5/2 | Beaner’s
For the past decade, Paul Connolly and company have been churning out amazing sounds with the three-guitar-plus-drums powerhouse that is Portrait of a Drowned Man. This is not to say audiences should expect a Molly Hatchet or Lynyrd Skynyrd triple-axe attack; the music is much more along the lines of Pink Floyd’s “Interstellar Overdrive” or Frank Zappa’s “The Ocean is the Ultimate Solution.” Each of the three guitarists have a specific purpose. Jesse Hoheisel plays lead guitar, Paul Connolly is more or less rhythm, while Justin Kervina adds a touch of ambient droning and special effects. Ken Nyberg beats the drums to complete the suspension of the rules of time and space.
Potluck Communists
6pm Tues 4/29 | The Underground
Potluck Communists is a Duluth ska band consisting of guitar players Jake Vainio and Nick Carlson-Becklund, bassist Ian Erikson, drummer Robert McGrady and saxophonist Joe Birdseye. The young band has been working on material for a year and a half and has performed at the Amazing Grace Bakery & Café during the Music Resource Center’s open mic night.
Prince Paul and the Conscious Party
12:30am Fri 5/2 | Tycoons
Prince Paul and the Conscious Party – it’s a band with a big, long name, a lot of musicians and a burst of high-energy reggae sound. The Conscious Party’s members have changed and rearranged over the years, but their delivery of get-up-and-dance reggae beats and grooves remains the same. “Prince” Paul Robinson heads up the group on vocals and is supported by longtime keyboardist Rob Jones. The rest of the gang includes guitar players Pat Powers and Joe Hauge, drummer Dave Johnson, bassist Sven Berg, percussionist Bryan “Lefty” Johnson and saxophonist Jason Minke.
Jillian Rae
7pm Sat 5/3 | Beaner’s
The former violinist for Two Many Banjos and the Killer Hayseeds has branched out on her own in a big way. As a solo artist, Jillian Rae took her songwriting, performing, and vocal talents to mobilize her own folk/bluegrass supporting band made up of Eric Martin (guitar), Kevin Rowe (bass), Jim O’Neill (keys), and Mark O’Day (drums). Her most recent album Heartbeat has received rave reviews and international radio airplay. When not playing with her group or as a duo with Martin, she moonlights as a contributing member of a number of projects including Corpse Reviver and the Fiddle Heirs.
Red Mountain
8:45pm Tues 4/29 | Grandma’s
Deriving its name from the glowing red broadcast towers on Duluth’s hillside, Red Mountain has transformed from a two-man band into an ever changing eight-to-ten-piece that delivers a spectacle of a show. Anton Jimenez-Kloeckl and his Rhodes piano are the centerpiece of the band, supported by a revolving cast that usually includes Grace Holden, Soren Dietzel and Becca Deboer on various horn instruments, Matt Mobley and/or Alex Piazza on bass, Jeremy Ehlert on guitar, and Erin Tope, Gustaf Ekstrand, Charlotte Montgomery and Chris LeBlanc on various percussive items. The band’s debut album of avant-garde bohemian pop, Scowl Lightly, was released in December on Chaperone Records.
The Resonance
11:15pm Wed 4/30 | Clyde Iron
Taking its cue from groups like Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters, the Resonance began gigging around the Twin Ports in 2003. Guitarists Dan Munthe and Cliff LaVigne construct melodic fuzz over the top of solid grunge beats provided by Al DeTray on drums and Charlie Milkey on bass. Their first full-length recording A Stone Thrown should be out in time for Homegrown.
Retribution Gospel Choir
11:45pm Tues 4/29 | Grandma’s
Retribution Gospel Choir might have invented a new album format. Part single, part full-length, part live, part studio-structured, one take, vinyl, rock-and-roll freak out is about the only way to describe the two non-remix 20-minute tracks that make up the band’s 2013 release 3. If that isn’t enough for fans of two parts Low – guitarist Al Sparhawk and bassist Steve Garrington – teamed up with Actual Wolf front man Eric Pollard on drums – side two of said record features Wilco guitar wizard Nels Cline.
Risky Fingers
12:30am Thurs 5/1 | Superior Flame
The torch of Duluth hip hop surely stays ablaze thanks to a handful of passionate tradesmen of the ones and twos. Ben Jorgenson has been playing the Twin Ports since 2007 and feels a strong responsibility to “play sets that can get people involved with hip hop that may not be fans of the genre.” As DJ Risky Fingers, he holds a residency at Mexico Lindo in Duluth every Wednesday. For Homegrown 2014 one can expect a high-energy performance while he lays down the scratches to Duluth MC Nonfic (Scott Vezina).
Troy Rogers
8:30pm Fri 5/2 | Teatro Zuccone
Virginia native Troy Rogers’ work has two facets: designing and building robotic instruments, and then using them to create musical compositions. He and his band of music-making robots with names like CARI (Cylindrical Aerophone Robotic Instrument) have performed for local audiences at BradFest since 2010 and at Teatro Zuccone in 2012, but this will be their first Homegrown appearance. Rogers recently relocated to Duluth from Charlottesville, Va., where he co-founded the group Expressive Machines Musical Instruments, self-described as “a band of sonic thrill seekers; composers who have turned to the creation of novel robotic musical instruments to achieve their musical vision.” A Fulbright scholarship took Rogers to Belgium for a year to apprentice with musical robotics pioneer Godfried-Willem Raes; while there, he worked with the world’s largest and most advanced robot orchestra.
RoofTop Fable 11:30pm Fri 5/2 | Sir Benedict’s
After nearly two years of jamming together, bassist Brandon Maki and guitar player Mikey Trifilette – occasionally joined by drummer Faye Baron – were in search of a singer. In late 2012 they found her in Suzy Anderson, known to the music scene as Suzy Q. Since then, RoofTop Fable has been bringing its ever-changing brand of quirky rock to Duluth venues such as the Reef Bar, the Other Place, Red Star Lounge and Player’s Sport Bar. The band is currently hard at work recording its first album.
Saint Anyway
10:45pm Sun 4/27 | Tycoons
Fresh off their fourth full-length album, Live in Duluth, the guys from Saint Anyway return to Homegrown with slightly older, but still fresh, young faces and another year of touring under their belt. Twisting folk, rock and Americana into their own “stomp-grass” style, their sounds are reaching more and more ears as their touring stretches farther from their hometown. With a growing fan base, new website, and social-media savvy, the trio of Tony Petersen, Jamie Kallestad and Dane Levinski seem to have this whole professional band thing down.
Sexhawk
12:30am Fri 5/2 | Pizza Lucé
Save your energy for this Homegrown stalwart that rips through its sets with humor and raw power. Sexhawk’s debut EP, Nuts of a Warrior, was released just after last year’s Homegrown. Total Eclipse of the Hawk is set for release this spring. Bone Appetit veterans Cory “Hotrod” Ahlm (vocals) and Aaron Ashley (guitar) have kept their fans satisfied with Sexhawk’s self-described “Minnesota sleaze rock,” which the Duluth News Tribune once referred to as the “kind of songs you want to listen to while washing your car in 1979.” Jeff Foline (guitar), Shanna Willie (drums), and Chris Whittier (bass) help keep things right and sudsy.
Maddy Siiter
8:30pm Sat 5/3 | Amazing Grace
Homegrown Music Festival is 16 years old. Maddy Siiter is 15 years old. You do the math. The young singer/guitarist plays and writes well beyond the presumptions of a person not yet eligible to drive a car. Mechanically, her guitar work is spot-on, straight forward and engaging. Lyrically, she doesn’t dabble in self-pitying teenage nonsense. It’s more in the style of Edie Brickell than one might expect, and her pensive writing (she’s composed over 70 songs) sounds more at home on KAXE or KUMD than some artists twice her age.
The Silk Sheiks
3:30pm Sun 5/4 | Canal Park Brewing
What’s a Homegrown experience without a little lounge-y soul music thrown in? The Silk Sheiks return to the festival this year with their keyboard-heavy, instrumental soul music, drawing on the sounds from staples such as Booker T. & the M.G.’s. If that name doesn’t ring a bell, think “hip-swinging music that ‘square’ 1950s and ’60s parents would disapprove of.” Keyboard-master Dan Anderson, guitarist Ben Marsen, bassist Ethan Thompson and drummer Ryan Jazdzewski will be delivering the smooth at the Canal Park Brewery this year. Cue the disco ball and red mood lighting.
Silverback Colony
12:30am Thurs 5/1 | Vintage Italian Pizza
Gabriel Douglas has made a name for himself, and that name is Big-Bearded-Loud-Rockin’-Guitarist Dude. He perpetuates this as front man for alt-country band Silverback Colony. But don’t let the alt-country label fool you. With a strong lineup of musicians in the band, including Nate Case on guitar, Kyle Keegan on drums, Matt Donoghue on bass, DJ House on spaceship and guitar, and John Lehmkuhl on anything put in front of him, these guys are likely to play whatever the hell they want. Their upcoming album Sounds Like Silverback Colony: A North Country Soundtrack is set to be released on May 6.
Sing! A Women’s Chorus
7:15pm Sat 5/3 | Sacred Heart
Sing! A Women’s Chorus is a community chorus directed by Mags David that includes up to 30 or more women at any given time. David arranges traditional songs and writes some original material to produce a “solid folk music sound.” Take the lady-half of the Mamas and Papas, multiply by 15, and you’ll get the picture. Sing! meets through Duluth Public Schools Community Education program and performs exclusively in the Twin Ports area.
Adam Sippola
10:30pm Sat 5/3 | Sir Benedict’s
Musician, poet and actor Adam Sippola began his artistic journey at age 5 when he took up classical cello training. As a teenager, he expanded his instrumentation by picking up a wide variety of musical formats such as vocal harmonizing and the didgeridoo. Now, as an adult, his compositions use loops, electronic improvisation, and different forms of percussion to create a multi-cultural, genre-spanning symphonic experience. In 2013, his song “By the Water” was included in the album Industry. Peace. Environment, a project designed to raise awareness of the environmental impact of northern Minnesota sulfide mining.
The Slamming Doors
11:15pm Sat 5/3 | Rex Bar
When Adam Herman sought a change of pace and new direction, he chose the Iron Range. After touring for several years with a Colorado rock band, he found himself in Eveleth in 2011, where he started collecting musicians and soon had a blues-rock, soul and jam-band thing going on. And they have immediate Duluth cred: There’s a banjo involved. Off the Range, you might have seen Herman (vocals, acoustic guitar), Matt Johnson (drums), Pat Hawkinson (lead guitar, banjo), Craig LaSart (bass), Craig Skalko (keyboards) and Mike Randolph (pedal steel) at last fall’s balloon festival at Bayfront Park or at several venues around the Twin Ports. This is the band’s first Homegrown. They’re working on a new album, following a 2012 EP release. Herman says to look for “heartache, anger, and cynicism” in the new grooves.
The Social Disaster
12am Sun 4/27 | Pizza Lucé
Call it a dark supergroup with Jacob Swanson (Dad’s Acid, Planemo), Jake Larson (Manheat), Jesse Hoheisel (Portrait of Drowned Man) and Ryan Nelson (Bradical Boombox, the Farsights) teaming with gritty vocals from Rachel Phoenix to create what it calls “harrowing proto pop and garage soul.” Their groove is anchored in Larson’s distorted Moog bass tones that take flight using Phoenix’s raw power. The band debuted this past winter with fans of the band members’ other projects screaming a collective “yes, please.”
Steve Sola
9pm Thurs 5/1 | Chester Creek
This prodigal son of Duluth has been home for two years after a school stint, playing in De Se, Lion or Gazelle and Red Mountain. Now he’s a solo blues act with an acoustic guitar, six-string resonator and banjo while working drums and a hi-hat. He describes his stuff as “groove-driven blues and rickety, rattling folk music.” Think Bruce Springsteen meets Tom Waits meets Charlie Parr.
Somewhere But Who
11:15pm Tues 4/29 | Prøve Gallery
Bryce Willett and Andy Lipke have a habit of bringing musical friends to the stage, so calling them a duo is using the term loosely. “The constant lineup change makes every show something to look forward to,” Willett says. He describes their music as “alternative folk” or “desert rock.” Lipke brings the guitar rock while Willett waters the desert with his acoustic stylings and vocals.
Songs of Shipwreck
9:30pm Wed 4/30 | Beaner’s
On July 19, the good ship Gallus wrecked at the Rex and three of the band’s survivors debuted Songs of Shipwreck the same night. Not enough analogy? Drummer Davy “Jones” Clark (nudge-nudge, wink-wink) will be playing his first Homegrown and taking the beat into folk, blues and even punk. Kent Paulsen and Sean Mahoney handle the vocals and guitars while Steve Karels plies the bass – all three were part of the pop-rocking Gallus. Paulsen said what began as a folk trio morphed into a fuller sound with influences from each member. Matt Sjelin is on keyboards and plays a pivotal role in the future of the band: His family owns a studio. They were making rough cuts in February.
Sonja and the Reckoning
12:15am Thurs 5/1 | Reef Bar
Sonja Bjordal and Lee Martin keep refining their backup band as they continue to take listeners down the gravel roads of country, folk, rock and Americana. Once known as the Mud Puppies, then Next of Kin, Bjordal and Martin now harmonize with Martin’s band mates from the Underwriters – bassist Adam Staupe and drummer Walter Wedan. T Bruce Bowers adds electric fiddle to a sound Bjordal says has morphed into bits of each player with some long, jammy grooves as well.
Sordes
11pm Sun 4/27 | Pizza Lucé
This is the first public performance for the band led by behind-the-music legend Ben Butter. Formed in late 2012, Butter said he and bassist Adam McCauley, drummer Jules Miller and guitar player Mauro All are answering a Twin Ports call for “thrashy metallic punk.” Butter, who went solo last year as De Se and has extensive experience helping bands outside of the spotlight, said Sordes has been “turning beer into songs to blister your ears while hiding out in a basement in Superior.”
Southwire
8pm Wed 4/30 | Clyde Iron
Southwire isn’t Duluth’s secret little mash-up, folk/hip-hop act anymore. The band’s self-titled album released last March by Chaperone Records took off and received praise far and wide, including a selection by City Pages in October as a group “picked to click” in the Minnesota music scene. Fans flocked to shows in bigger and bigger venues to hear the sweet sound of Jerree Small run up against the sermon-like spoken words of Ben Larson, who still fronts Crew Jones. Larson’s Crew-mate, Sean Elmquist, handles the drums in this emerging supergroup, with Matt Mobley on bass.
Space Carpet
10:30pm Fri 5/2 | Tycoons
Rory Isakson and Jen West have been gathering songs the past year, enough to get some recording done at Beaner’s of their guitar-driven rock and pop. With drummer Tyler Dubla, guitar player Steve Isakson and bassist Mark Glen, the yearling five-piece landed on WDSE-TV’s The Playlist in early April after gigging all over the Twin Ports. The group intends to release its album right around the time Homegrown winds down.
The Spin Collective and Ladyslipper Musicians
9pm Sat 5/3 | MN Power Plaza
There’s something one could call the perfect Homegrown storm, that night when all goes according to plan on paper – the right bands, the right drinks, the right company. Then come the small ad hoc touches that leave you screaming, “Best Homegrown ever!” The fire-swirling gyrations of the Spin Collective have often provided that surprise enhancement to revelers walking along Superior Street past Minnesota Power. Denise Hooper, Shaunna Heckman Schanzenbach, Jillian Forte, Gina Doller, Aleasha Hladilek, Jayme Hudson, Sherry Christianson and Matt Lindberg will keep the Homegrown fire dancing alit.
Starling of Athens
8:45pm Sun 4/27 | Tycoons
Finally, the Twin Ports music scene has evolved enough to include a genre “devoted entirely to the atheistic point of view.” That’s how musician and artist Toby Thomas Churchill is describing his solo act for “atheists and other seekers of truth.” Always a clever wordsmith and creator of fantastical blends of instruments, Churchill is the answer to that age-old question: What if Wes Anderson lived in Duluth and plodded along as a singer-songwriter? Check out the songs “The Lord is Not My Real Dad” and “Vaginas” on Bandcamp for a taste of Churchill’s latest solo twist.
Stel
10:45pm Fri 5/2 | Carmody
For 14 years Brian Stelmaszweski has been a mainstay in the Twin Ports folk and blues scene, playing regular gigs at Thirsty Pagan Brewing, Emily’s Lighthouse and other acoustic-friendly venues. The first dozen of those years were spent with Larry Sandmann in the Stel & Lefty duo, until a massive stroke sidelined Lefty just before the 2012 Homegrown. This year it’s just Stel and his guitar, playing original tunes, instrumentals and covers of classic artists like Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Marshall Tucker.
Superior Siren
6:30pm Tues 4/29 | Amazing Grace
For every band that’s been established and has some renown, Homegrown also wants to include first timers like folk guitarist and vocalist Laura Sellner, who goes by the name Superior Siren. She began writing originals last year, of which she already has ten. Her early shows and first attempt at recording went well enough to plan a forthcoming EP and gave insight into her future style. She is frequently backed by guitarist Andrew Olmstead, bassist Alex Piazza and drummer Kyle Keegan.
Supreme Rokka HiFi
11pm Sat 5/3 | Duluth Flame
Performing as an authentic reggae sound system requires two things. First, exclusive dubplates – meaning acetate photograph records. Second, a deep understanding of the Kingston DJ scene of the 1950s. Warhorse (Kevin Craig) and DJ Binghi Hype (Brian Tomaino), the duo that makes up Supreme Rokka HiFi, can indeed claim both. Besides using their own one-off dub plates, they have crates of hard-to-find Jamaican records. They also share over 20 years of experience as DJs, playing everywhere from kitchen parties to large theaters.
Tangier 57 9pm Fri 5/2 | The Underground
Originally a vehicle to explore the lost arts of lounge-exotica-elevator music, Tangier 57’s musical fellowship has expanded, retracted, morphed and congealed many times since forming eight years ago. The band’s continually evolving sound has been described as “Lawrence Welk meets Pink Floyd” and “psychedelic elevator music with a mojito spilled on it.” The men responsible are trumpet blower David Syring, pianist Paul Wartman, bassist Darin Bergsven and drummer Brian Barber. They are rumored to be the favorite band of Duluth’s first lady, Laura Ness.
Taste the Feeling 7:30pm Sat 5/3 | Amazing Grace
Taste the Feeling is a family affair, with daddy Brad Fernholz leading the crew on guitar, tenor sax and vocals; daughter Anika following up with vocals, drums, guitar and piano; and son Gavin on guitar, drums and alto sax. They’ve been jamming together since Anika and Gavin were just babes, bouncing on dad’s drumming lap. As the years go on and the kiddies get older, the music keeps evolving. This is Taste the Feeling’s third Homegrown appearance.
Thadi P.
8:45pm Fri 5/2 | Legacy Glass
Since he was a young man Thaddeus P. Swint had music in his heart, picking up the bass at age 13 and joining his first band. Over the following years, he would play in multiple bands, eventually moving on to hip hop after enrolling at University of Minnesota Duluth. During those collegiate years, Swint made music with several local recording artists under the name Oreo Rapz, performing at UMD and Pizza Lucé. Since then, he has moved on as a solo artist under the moniker Thadi P. An album is in the works, tentatively titled The Cycle.
The 13th Choir
8:30pm Tues 4/29 | Amazing Grace
The 13th Choir is a visit to heavy metal before hair bands, Metallica and grindcore. Songs with structured riffs, slightly distant vocals and dark chord progressions abound. Joel Conley is the vocalist and guitar player – the “jezebel of decibels,” so to speak. Andy Morrow handles the lead-guitar riffing attack. The percussion and repercussion are handled by Amy Ugstad, who casually pounds out complex, almost tribal drumming patterns. Bass is played steady and solid by Mark “Thunder Donkey” Swanson.
Sara Thomsen
11am Sat 5/3 | Chester Creek
Simply calling Sara Thomsen a “folk musician” would be an injustice. Not that she would mind; for over 15 years she’s brought her acoustic guitar and thoughtful songwriting to coffee shops and cafés throughout the northland. However, her full body of work goes far beyond the five folk albums she’s released since 1995. Thomsen has also produced two CDs with the vocal project Three Altos and directs two choirs. The Echoes of Peace Choir includes up to 70 voices that aim to raise awareness in the community through music, and the Kako Choir is part of an after-school program for children.
Thunder Brothers 10:30pm Wed 4/30 | Mr. D’s
Thunder Brothers define their musical range “from space rock to warm southern blues to machine-oriented progressive rock.” If that sounds confusing, drummer Jason Noe has a clearer assessment of the band’s objective: “We are here to rip your ears off.” The rest of this saucy ensemble is comprised of guitarists Bill Berguson and Tom O’hara, bassist Mark Eskola and keyboard player Danny Eaton.
The Tico Three
9:30pm Sat 5/3 | Sir Benedict’s
Israel Malachi continues to expand his collection of post-blues tricks, delivered via electronic sequencing and synthesis, and anchored by his ripping electric guitar. The “three” in his band name accounts for those drum machines and synths, but for this year’s Homegrown there will be additional humans in the lineup – bassist Paul Whyte, percussionist Crystal Detlefsen and violinist Jon Choi.
Timmy Jacks Off 9:30pm Fri 5/2 | Sir Benedict’s Over the past two years, 18-year-old Harrison Crane has been the most productive member of Duluth’s music scene – if productivity is measured by sheer amount of new music released freely on Bandcamp. For example, 35 new Timmy Jacks Off songs dropped in the month of January alone, and that’s about typical for this experimental one-man act focused on recording “fractured bedroom pop.” Crane draws inspiration from artists like Bradford Cox, Ariel Pink and Daniel Johnston. “They just seem to spit out amazing track after amazing track,” he says. “I’m always trying to emulate that kind of output.”
Timothy Martin and the New Norm 10:30pm Thurs 5/1 | Burrito Union Duluth music-scene veteran Tim Nelson bears his middle name for all to see in this new band that promises “dark, retro-infused guitar rock” that “embodies the stark, cold beauty” of Duluth “with power-pop, punk melodies.” Backing Nelson are Russell Sackett on bass, Peter Knutson on lead guitar, Walter Wedin on drums and T Bruce Bowers on space fiddle. They released a video for a cover of Low’s “Canada” in December before playing the Duluth Does Low tribute show, and their single “Holy Water” can be heard on the band’s Reverbnation webpage.
Tin Can Gin
9:15pm Tues 4/29 | Prøve Gallery
Tin Can Gin delivers a hearty helping of up-tempo bluegrass that harkens back to the first wave of banjo-infused sonatas that took hold in the 1960s. Harrison Olk’s furious banjoing and singing lead the way, backed by Trevor Marrin on guitar and vocals, and Bryan Nelson on mandolin. Adroitly thumping out the bass line is Mark Glen, while Nori Perrine adds the touch of grace with her fiddle work.
The Tisdales
12am Thurs 5/1 | Norm’s
The guys in the Tisdales have been rocking the Duluth music scene for longer than it has been called a “scene,” longer than most whipper-snappers have been able to legally enjoy a Pabst Blue Ribber, longer than – well, you get the idea. Purveyors of old-time rock and roll, the Tisdales deliver no-fuss, no-muss tunes. Rich Mattson and Tony Derrick head up the band on guitar and vocals, with bassist Jason Kokal and drummer Derek Rolando rounding up the bunch.
Transparency
8pm Tues 4/29 | The Underground
Transparency is an alternative Christian rock band that formed two years ago. Drummer Jesse Fure, singer Blaise Parrot and pianist Nicholas Bostrom shared the same vision of “rocking the world with music that no one had seen the likes of before.” A few months later they added guitarist Kenneth Zierman and bassist Nolan Juusola. Weekly practices soon began to take place in the sanctuary of the Duluth Gospel Tabernacle and more recently the band has been recording at the Music Resource Center at Sacred Heart.
Tribal Alchemie featuring Yabobo Drummers
9:45pm Sat 5/3 | MN Power Plaza
Tribal Alchemie is an improvisational belly-dance troupe made up of Pamela Clifton, Danie Jimenez and LeeAnn Myers. The Yabobo Drummers are an ensemble of world-beat percussionists comprised of Janine Olsen, Elden Lindamood, Tim Stratton, Tamra Anderson and Denise Loiselle. When fused together they create a hypnotic mix of sword-wielding, rhythmic body movements and indigenous hand-drum styles. They share their mystical mélange of dance and cadence at a wide variety of events including fundraisers, festivals, rock shows and Lakewalk open-air busking.
Triplekoin 10:15pm Thurs 5/1 | Reef Bar
Triplekoin formed at the end of 2002, developing its sound from a blues/rock/punk background. The band features brothers Cody and Brandon Behrends on guitars, Brett Sundgaurd on drums, and new member Justin Johnson on bass. They blend original music with popular covers in their sets, and have one album, 2005’s Undecided.
Turbo Rathvon
8pm Fri 5/2 | Beaner’s
Turbo Rathvon returned to performing last fall after a long hiatus. The group plays good-time music that brings to mind the Adverts or the Zeros – when punk was morphing into what would come to be known as new wave. By the time all of the pioneering bands had made it big, (Blondie, Talking Heads, etc.) all of the spirit of punk had been refined out of the music and replaced with studio magic. This band captures that choice moment in time just before that happened. Founding members Keith Nelson, Carl Olson, Jordan Curtis and Adam Metzer are joined by new drummer Jack Gerold in this five-piece with the mission to “provide the soundtrack to your personal apocalypse.”
Val Turcotte and Tom O’Keefe 5:30pm Mon 4/28 | Zeitgeist Atrium Duluth native Val Turcotte has been singing and playing guitar for about 30 years. He’s performed at Homegrown five times as “Vintage Val,” and in 2004 he played Fourth Fest at Bayfront Park, opening for Sherrie Austin, Gary Allan and Brad Paisley. Now retired and living in Esko, Turcotte still entertains on the farmers-market circuit in Duluth with his sets of vintage country favorites. Joining him on stage at this year’s Homegrown will be Superior’s Tom O’Keefe.
12Step Villains
11:15pm Sat 5/3 | Red Star
After 20-plus years of mixing records in the Twin Ports, disc jockey Patrick Hannu has decided to dedicate the music he spins to the making of more genuine compositions. While many DJs tend to stay in the bubble of club-life, Hannu has never been afraid to step out of the booth and use his vast library of beats for more diverse projects. For Homegrown 2014, he is teaming with veteran Philadelphia producer Simon Nelson to build a two-headed, all original dance machine called 12StepVillains. Nelson seems an appropriate choice as he shares Hannu’s creative approach to electronic music.
Two Beat Band
10:45pm Thurs 5/1 | Thirsty Pagan
Hopefully, one of these years, songwriter Jordan Taylor will keep his enigmatic Two Beat Band in working fashion for an extended stretch of time. It seems every time he teases with a small string of brilliant performances or a stunning new alt-country recording, he goes back off the radar for months. He’s given hints that he and his first-class backing players will keep their heads above ground in 2014 by playing a handful shows across Minnesota and planning for a new album this summer, following up last year’s self-titled EP. Nate Case joins him on guitar along with Kyle Keegan on drums and Steve Garrington on bass.
Fred Tyson Sex Workshop 11:15pm Fri 5/2 | Rex Bar
Has your sex life become too much effort, too predictable and too goal-driven? Then join Fred Tyson, one of the most prominent funk singers in Duluth, as he helps chart a path toward a more magnificent sex life. In this enlightening and supportive program, Tyson will be backed by Dan Anderson on keyboard, Ben Marsen on bass, Paul Broman on guitar, Eldo Abrahamson on drums and Ryan Jazdewski on percussion. Tyson and his band will help you take charge of your sex life and gain the confidence to explore ways of using your sexuality to create more love in your life.
The Ugly Mugs
5:30pm Sat 5/3 | Amazing Grace
Inspired by classic acts like Led Zeppelin, Neil Young and Johnny Cash, the Ugly Mugs started out during late-night jam sessions between friends, and quickly evolved into more serious songwriting and eventually live performances. Singer-songwriter Mike Jandl, along with guitarist and songwriter Paul Abear started the band, and recruited some old friends to join the group – drummer Ryan Donovan and bassist Keir Gellatly. The band has been busy playing throughout the Twin Ports in the past year and is eager to make its Homegrown debut.
Uprising
10pm Sat 5/3 | Duluth Flame
Uprising has been wowing crowds with its high-energy blend of reggae, rock, soul calypso and ska. Hailing from Jamaica, lead vocalist Dexter Baxter captures the energy of Caribbean music. Andrew Perfetti’s guitar solos are crowd stopping, fusing reggae with his love for blues and rock. Bassist Tal Lindblad, drummer Luke Perry and keyboard player Janna Dreher keep the groove moving in this hard-driving, fun-loving band.
Ryan Van Slooten
7:30pm Thurs 5/1 | Red Mug
Flashback 15 years to a Hillside basement kegger. Partiers gather to witness Bone Appetit come crashing to the stage and begin another high-powered, half Kiss, half Spinal Tap signature set. They don’t disappoint. Founding member and guitarist Ryan Van Slooten was known as Richie Gunns back then, in make-up, leather pants, and full of hair metal riffs. Times change. Van Slooten matured with his music, and his latest collection of thoughtful pop rock compositions Victory March was voted Album of the Year on the Perfect Duluth Day website. Drummer Scott Millis, bassist Tom Berrigan and guitar player Jacob Jonker join him for this year’s Homegrown.
Virgil Caine Band
11:30pm Thurs 5/1 | Vintage Italian Pizza
Take a Texas-style blues guitar, a Chicago-blues-influenced harp and a tough-as-nails rhythm section and you’ll have all the makings for the Virgil Caine Band. With 30 years of experience and three albums under their belts, Tommy Wotruba (guitar), Mark Hawley (vocals and harmonica), Keith Fredrickson (vocals and drums), and Dave Prudhomme (bass), have begun to expand their gig horizons by booking shows in Chicago, Minneapolis and Las Vegas. They are currently finishing up a fourth album of original music.
Vivielle
10:30pm Sun 4/27 | Teatro Zuccone
For a bunch of humble kids just trying to be a small part of Duluth’s expansive music scene, Vivielle has started to garner some budding expectations. Though only formed a year ago, this alt-folk four-piece has already built a small and passionate fan base. Guitarist Nathaniel Harvie’s harmonies with Rosie Uggla drive the band’s straight-forward, mid-tempo sound, solidly backed by bassist Lino Rauzi and drummer Joe Rauzi. In January the group released a two-song EP Time Falls Apart.
Willie Diction
9:45pm Sat 5/3 | Legacy Glass
Rapper Willie Winklesky goes by the name Willie Diction. The “diction” part makes sense. His relentless style of fierce enunciations and fast phrasings would make a listener dizzy if he didn’t have the hip-hop chops to back it up. He’s been at it for a decade doing freestyle and composing rhymes at house parties, basement sessions and shows while also collaborating with a variety of different bands and artists around the Duluth area. Winklesky is working on his debut Willie Diction album and has posted a handful of singles on Soundcloud.
Wino, WI
11:15pm Wed 4/30 | Kom-on-Inn
Greg Cougar Conley and Marcus Matthews have been performing together on and off for over two decades in bands such as Puddle Wonderful, Both, the Surfactants, Humanoid and Bull Feathers. Last year they joined up with the bombastic family rhythm section of Scott Millis on the drums and rock vixen Heather Dean on the bass to form Wino, WI. The group released the single “B-a-n-j-o” before Homegrown 2013, and has played at R. T. Quinlan’s, Tycoons and Rex Bar in the past year in its quest to prove, “we don’t need another banjo.”
A Winter Downpour
12am Fri 5/2 | Fitger’s Brewhouse
A Winter Downpour plays moody, introspective songs that explore surviving the beauties and disappointments of everyday life. Front man Alberto Serrano Rivera founded the band with an acoustic guitar and a handful of songs. The project grew to a full band, then unraveled, then reformed. The current lineup includes bassist Kevin Zak, drummer Ken Nyberg and guitar player Paul Connolly. Their album Vandrovic, I Need Help was released in 2012.
Wolf Blood
12am Fri 5/2 | R.T. Quinlan’s
Last year’s darlings at Homegrown New Band Night were no fluke; Wolf Blood is indeed that brutal – “brutal” as in: smack-your-face loud rock and roll, amps on fire, packed house, broken glass, cops-breaking-up-the-party brutal. Mike Messina and Mindy Johnson provide the guitar howl while Brian Wells’ bass and Jake Paulsrud’s drums measure out the bite. Their seven-song cassette of riff-heavy doom metal was released in February.
Wood Blind
12:15am Wed 4/30 | Kom-on-Inn
Wood Blind features the combo of Duluth mainstay and guitarist Jason Wussow and Los Angeles studio/touring bass player Veikko Lepisto. Wussow’s credits include the bands Flux Skapacitor, No Room to Pogo, Yeltzi, Fuzzy Ellis and ownership of all-ages music venue Beaner’s Central. Lepisto has worked with Mike Ness of Social Distortion, Royal Crown Revue and Bette Midler while on the West Coast. Teamed together they make acoustic ska à la 1960s’ Jamaica and ’70s’ England. Their sets include traditional reggae, ska versions of classic rock and R&B hits, and original rocksteady numbers.
Xhaust
11:45pm Sat 5/3 | Legacy Glass
For seven years, Xhaust played heavy, loud and fast as a traditional four-piece metal band. Dan Krause’s vocal and guitar work provided the rock and roll blueprint while the rest of the group filled in the sonic backdrop. Then, last fall, two members opted out, leaving Krause and Conor Glenn to perform as a duo, trading instruments throughout their party sets on Superior’s South Range. The results? Same heaviness, same intensity, but more originality in regards to tempo and musical dynamics. The full band released three albums dating back to 2006.
The Yeah Scherz
10pm Thurs 5/1 | Chester Creek
You betcha’, the Yeah Scherz get a round a bit you know, eh? Northern accents and puns aside, this acoustic duo play a wide range of venues across the region: brew pubs, restaurants, ski resorts, music clubs and auditoriums. Josie Taylor and Kyle Scherz specialize in soft, soulful harmonies that float over Scherz’s jangley acoustic and electric guitar. Using this rich mix of vocal union and light rhythms created by live loops and the occasional accompanying players, the group performs sets of covers and originals as a residency band at Fitger’s Brewhouse, Little Angie’s Cantina and Grill and the Rex Bar.
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2014 Homegrown Kickball Classic
Saturday, May 3 | High Noon
Chester Bowl Park, 1800 E. Skyline Parkway
‘I can’t see the base because it is covered in mud, like my eyes’
2013 Homegrown Kickball Classic Revisited
By Emily Haavik
Friday pitcher Chad Lyons arrived at the field 45 minutes early, presumably to claim the field for his team in some sort of ceremonial ritual that involved his old high school soccer cleats and a cigarette.
It worked. Friday took the 2013 Homegrown Kickball Classic, 7-5.
Rainy conditions throughout the week forced the game to be played away from its usual location, Chester Bowl. After a 20-minute search for car-floormat bases, the action was underway at Observation Park.
Friday player Jon Choi led off the game by reaching on an error. Heather Dean was thrown out at first base on the second play, but decided to stay on base anyway. A few pitches later, Saturday coach Paul Lundgren brought to umpire Rick Boo’s attention that Dean was still on base. Boo confirmed that he called her out, but then said since she had been there a while she might as well be allowed to stay.
That decision ultimately padded Friday’s score by two points. After Ryan Nelson, dressed in lemon-lime attire, flew out – which should have been the third out, ending the inning with no score – Andy Pletcher singled to drive in Choi and Dean. The usual Homegrown kickball controversy was thick from the get-go.
Saturday countered with a run in the bottom of the first when Paul Connolly scored a split second before a tag-out on third base ended the inning. Connolly had reached on an error when Scott Millis failed to successfully field the ball while holding his beer, which resulted in Friday Coach Eric “Heiko” Edwardson cussing Millis out.
No one scored in the second or third innings, but there were plenty of arguments and errors to keep things interesting.
Chris LeBlanc scored a run for Saturday in a wild fourth inning, tying up the game at 2-2. Saturday had the bases loaded when a base-running error by Lane Prekker ended the inning prematurely.
Friday got going again in the top of the fifth when Choi and Dean each scored their second runs of the game. Then, in the sixth, Friday expanded its lead with two more runs, securing a 6-2 advantage. It was a tough inning at the plate for Saturday, with Dean and Nelson’s double play knocking out two Saturday Crunchy Bunchers.
Saturday began to come back in the seventh, after a scoreless inning from Friday. Anders Lundahl and Derek Delgado both singled to start the inning and eventually scored.
At the top of the eighth, it was anyone’s game. The score was 6-4. Tensions were high. Pitchers’ eyes were mud-caked. Jell-O shots were jiggling. Ari Norrgard scored for Friday, boosting the lead to 7-4.
At the bottom of the ninth, Saturday needed three to tie. Dan Branovan singled to open the inning. Prekker followed with a two-base kick, lifting spirits. Victory was in reach. It was as dramatic as one of those games in Remember the Titans, or Mighty Ducks 2.
Branovan scored and Prekker came across behind him, but there was a controversy over whether he was safe or not. The verdict was no. Still behind by two runs, Saturday showed life again loading the bases for Paul Whyte, but the game ended in anticlimax when he flew out, securing Friday’s 7-5 win.
The honor of MVP went to Ryan Van Slooten of the Friday team. His response, along with, “It’s been a long year of hard work, improving my game,” was “Wasn’t Kyle co-MVP with me?”
Yes, he was – kind of. Kyle Maclean got an honorable mention for diving headfirst into home plate.
Least Valuable Player of 2013 was Chris LeBlanc, “for playing atrociously at third base,” as his own coach remarked.
Worth noting: There was an argument voiced that Brandon Helberg should be LVP for falling on his face so often when he kicked.
Also worth noting: Saturday had 12 players while Friday had at least 24.
Best individual insult goes to Ryan Nelson, directed at Lane Prekker: “Not bad for the third-best washboard player at the kickball game.”
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Lazy musicians make good (but not great) stay-at-home dads
By Mark Lindquist
I’ve been a stay-at-home dad (or S.A.H.D.) of twin daughters for the past six years, and a lazy musician since starting my first band back in the fall of 1989. Oddly, as those two parts of my life combined in 2008, it sort of worked out. It doesn’t function so well that I should ever be put in charge of a school district, much less a fantasy football league, but being a lazy musician does offer inherent advantages to the stay-at-home brand of fatherhood.
1. S.A.H.D. never leaves the house
The most important part of any stay-at-home parent’s job rests in the “staying home” part. Speaking on behalf of all lazy musicians, we rarely go anywhere. Leaving the house would scare up things like gigs, jobs, a driver’s license, checking accounts. We really don’t do more than drink coffee and read old album liner notes for the first three hours of any given day. I don’t leave the couch much once the Netflix BBC mysteries start at naptime.
My two lone accomplishments this winter involved organizing my football cards and learning the theme to Ren and Stimpy on guitar. That’s a big year for me. But it’s that exact form of artistic passivity that makes a home safe from chokings, drownings and fires. Those tragedies occur when busy parents try to accomplish things away from home.
2. S.A.H.D. snacks and is frugal
Let’s be honest, lazy musicians live below the poverty level. And yet, we eat decent enough. Reason: Can’t afford junk food or large servings. The next time you see a lazy musician, note the skinny appearance (a bit pale and smelly, but skinny).
Over the years, frugality and hunger have taught me that a can of tuna, old relish packets and a hotdog bun equals a Cuban Delight. Sliced cucumber, ranch dressing and chopped baking nuts? A Russian Gumdrop. Have you ever eaten SpaghettiOs Sandwiches? Delicious, inexpensive and high in fiber. Give me a tortilla and any two items in a cupboard; I’ll make a quesadilla.
Children love this form of nutrition despite their fussy appetites. You don’t want to fill them full of sugar, fat and salt. Enter the lazy musician diet: Simple finger foods with infantile names. We are like personal dream chefs for picky 4-years-olds and unemployed bass players.
3. S.A.H.D. promotes reading
As a lazy musician, my home decor is stocked with random piles of reading material: The New Yorker, Smithsonian, Mojo, Uncut, Sports Illustrated, along with multitudes of books about things like Billy Martin and the Amazon Jungle. Piles and piles of obsessive idleness. I read more in one month than most Americans read in a year – not because I’m smart or compiling important data; it’s just what lazy musicians do when not playing video games, strumming guitars or watching BBC mysteries on Netflix.
This rubs off on children in an educational, though unintentional, way. See the lazy parent read; see the child learn to love reading. My twins could read before they entered kindergarten not because mom is a college English instructor, but because dad can’t afford cable.
So when you attend Homegrown this year, don’t look at the ratty, immature guitar player and think, “Get a job, loser.” Look at him and think, “I’ll bet he creates a safe environment for children.”
