Homegrown Music Festival Field Guide 2016
Homegrown Music Festival 2016
Festival Director
Walter Raschick
Assistant Director
Adam Guggemos
Production Director
Jake Larson
Volunteer Coordinator
Melissa La Tour
Board of Directors
Mary Bue, Abe Curran, Pete Dingels, Jesse Hoheisel, Margie Nelson
Steering Committee
Brennan Atchison, Nyanyika Banda, Jason Beckman, Jesse Dykhuis, Adam Guggemos, Elizabeth Koltes, Melissa La Tour, Zoë La Tour, Kelli Latuska, Thomas Moriarty, Erin Naughton-Garrison, Ryan Nelson, Walter Raschick, Maddy Siiter
Rick Boo Committee
Todd Gremmels
Field Guide Produced by
Adam Guggemos and Paul Lundgren
Field Guide Advertising Representative
Breanne Marie Tepler
Field Guide Cover Art
Carolyn Sue Olson
Field Guide Contributing Writers
Jenny Ahern, Nyanyika Banda, Amy Clark, Christine Dean, Chris Godsey, Graham Hakala, Kraig James, Rachel Kraft, Mark Lindquist, Paul Lundgren, Melissa Maki, Israel Malachi, Rick McLean, Erin Naughton-Garrison, Mark Nicklawske, Hollis Norman, Michael Novitzki, Walter Raschick, Abigail Schoenecker, Kahla Statema, Ken Timm, Paige Totten-Hall
Field Guide Proofreading
Catherine Conlan
Field Guide Production Assistant
Stephanie Lundgren
The Homegrown Music Festival, Inc., is a Minnesota nonprofit under section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Operating support is made possible in part by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
Homegrown Music Festival
P.O. Box 16505, Duluth MN 55816
duluthhomegrown.com
[email protected]
Festival Price Guide
Weeklong Wristband
All eight days – $30
Single-day Wristband
Friday or Saturday – $20
Monday through Thursday – $10
* Shows in the event center at Clyde Iron Works on Wednesday require a weeklong wristband.
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.
Happy 48th birthday, Starfire
Notes from the 2016 Homegrown Steering Committee
Duluth’s 18th annual tribute to liver damage and hearing loss is upon us again. This year’s Homegrown Music Festival features 196 musical acts performing at 39 venues in Duluth and Superior. It will be sweaty, jubilant, excessive and utterly ridiculous. Consult your doctor and know your limits.
There are a handful of things everyone needs to know to fully appreciate and hopefully survive eight days fully dedicated to local music and the rich variety of deviant behavior associated with it. So listen up.
Although we flippantly remark about excess, liver damage and near survival on these pages, keep in mind the golden rule of Homegrown: Do not wreck things for everyone else.
For example, if you are partaking in mood and/or mind-altering substances, make sure to a) stick with the socially acceptable kind that will kill you slowly over a long period of time rather than instantly during a music festival, and b) don’t drive a car if you are even slightly impaired and don’t walk around if you can’t make it to your destination without stumbling into traffic.
Repeat chorus:
Do not wreck things for everyone else.
Do not wreck things for everyone else.
Above all, be a peacekeeper. Someone might get moshed into you and spill beer on your precious whatever. That’s part of the deal. On the other hand, do not take advantage of everyone else’s passive attitude about your sloppy behavior. Fun is fun as long as it’s fun. Keep it fun.
Repeat chorus:
Do not wreck things for everyone else.
Do not wreck things for everyone else.
Other things to keep in mind:
Bring cash. The bars will quite often be packed, and if you pay with a credit card the next person will have to wait an extra 20 seconds or so before being served, which might mean missing three or four songs at a punk show.
Homegrown’s founder, Scott “Starfire” Lunt, is always due his share of birthday wishes and pats on the back for inventing the festival, so do that if you have the opportunity.
This year, additional kind words, soft kisses and aggressive ass-smacking should be bestowed upon on Mr. Walter Raschick, Homegrown’s festival director for the past five years. He is stepping down after this year’s festival to let someone else take over the trainwreck. So, raise your glasses to ol’ Walt Dizzo!
Last and least, whatever you do, don’t give anyone shit about ticket prices going up this year. It’s only $30 to see 196 bands. That’s 15 cents per band. You can barely buy a used text book for $30. Besides that, if you read the schedule closely you’ll see that more than 80 shows do not require purchasing a wristband. More than 40 percent of the entire freaking festival is free. And every show on both Sundays is free. The chicken gives … but he’s also got to pay the bills, yo.
Now go forth and have a happy Homegrown! Sing along, dance, gyrate, headbang, spread some love and do not wreck things for everyone else.
Day One: Opening Ceremonies
Sunday, May 1
Day-to-day stories by Melissa Maki
How can one prepare body and mind for an eight-day extravaganza of music, booze and assorted shenanigans? Rest up, eat well, meditate, hydrate. And understand, as Robert Burns did, that “the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”
First, ease into the week’s festivities at the Red Herring with an afternoon of dancing and activities for kids and families, featuring music by Terrance Smith, Robi Meyerson, Dan the Monkey Man and the Fidgets.
The ceremonial launch of the festival occurs at Tycoons Alehouse with a changing of the guard. For the first time, Mayor Emily Larson opens Homegrown. Mayor Don Ness’ final proclamation in 2015 will be a tough act to follow, as it was delivered in song. What does Larson have planned? She’s not telling, but guarantees she won’t be singing, especially not about potholes.
“I’ve got a few years to do this,” Larson says. “I think I’ll start out nice and easy.”
The ritual tapping of the Homegrown Hempen Ale is different this year, too. Frank Kaszuba took the helm at Fitger’s Brewhouse last September when Dave Hoops stepped down from his longtime role as brewmaster. Those who appreciate the hoppy amber ale with nutty hempseed character have nothing to fear, however. This is far from Kaszuba’s first batch; he brewed under Hoops for 14 years.
Woodblind takes the stage after the pomp and circumstance. Other highlights of the night include Homegrown trivia at Carmody Irish Pub and the traditional showcase of new acts at Pizza Lucé.
Day Two: Ancillary Arts Night
Monday, May 2
Monday is Ancillary Arts Night, beginning at the Red Herring Lounge with the Homegrown Photo Show opening reception. New this year: the Duluth Art Institute is handing out disposable cameras. Take pics during the week’s activities, return cameras at Saturday’s kickball game and you might see your handiwork at the Herring’s pop-up photo show.
Once you have your fill of photography, head to Zinema 2 for the 2016 Homegrown Music Video Festival premiere. It’s the first of three chances to see this display of multimedia creativity.
The traditional Homegrown Poetry Showcase happens at a new location this year — Sacred Heart Music Center. The steadfast Kyle Elden Heyesen coordinated the showcase for six years, but this year passed the torch to Tina Higgins Wussow. Higgins Wussow has organized the monthly Spoken Word Open Mic at Beaner’s for nearly two years. She expects 30 poets to read and says it will be a true showcase of the local writing scene. She promises a dynamic event with “uncomfortable consequences” for those who dare to expound beyond the three-minute time limit. Local musician Richie Townsend will again lend guitar accompaniment to the showcase. Gaelynn Lea, who won NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert contest in March, will join on violin and also plans to share some poetry.
The evening ends at the Fitger’s Brewery Complex with a punk showcase upstairs at the Barrel Room and Charlie Parr’s side project, Devil’s Flying Machine, downstairs at the Rex.
Day Three: Canal Park Night
Tuesday, May 3
Those who missed the premiere of the Homegrown Music Video Festival are in luck. Zinema 2 has an encore presentation at 7 p.m. Music also begins early in the evening at Bent Paddle Brewing and Amazing Grace.
Distinguished boozehounds will appreciate that Vikre Distillery was added as a venue this year. It will host DJs and a ukulele player, while Prøve Gallery again features a lineup of brash, young punk rockers.
Duluth darling Mary Bue and her band the Holy Bones take the stage at the Sports Garden, one of the largest Homegrown venues. If you have hurt feelings about Bue’s announced plans to leave Duluth to start a yoga studio in Minneapolis, you may be comforted by her performance and assurance that the band has plans to stay together, at least in the short term.
Bue nabbed an Arrowhead Regional Arts Council grant to help record a new EP called The Majesty of Beasts this spring in Nashville at the 1979 Studio. Her band will perform the new songs, which she describes as “pretty heavy” for Homegrown. One particularly dark tune addresses sexual assault. She’s focused on “exploring these larger issues in our society” but is keeping her playful sense of humor too, as evidenced by her new pop-punk number, “The Shit I Left in Duluth.”
Space Carpet and the Social Disaster close out the night at the Sports Garden. Afterward, if you need a chill-out scene, Lake Avenue Restaurant & Bar is a good bet.
Day Four: Westside Wednesday
Wednesday, May 4
Wednesday’s revelry takes place in wild and wonderful West Duluth at a motley mix of watering holes like the Gopher Lounge, Mr. D’s and the Kom-on-Inn. Also, Beaner’s Central has an all-ages show with a metal and neo-punk focus.
The biggest shows of the night happen in the friendly West End at Clyde Iron Works. Music starts up at 6 p.m. in the mezzanine with all 11 members of Holy Hootenanners.
Teague Alexy opens Clyde’s main stage at 7 p.m. He’s assembling a stellar band, which includes Tyler Dubla on drums and Matt Mobley on upright bass. Next comes Low, Duluth’s favorite rock-and-roll minimalists. This year Low’s Homegrown gig falls between an April tour of Australia and a June tour of Europe. The band’s newest album, Ones and Sixes, was named one of NPR Music’s Favorite Albums of 2015.
Red Mountain will enthusiastically close out the main stage show. “We are beyond excited to play the Clyde,” says front man Anton Jimenez-Kloeckl. “It will be a fun challenge to fill that space with energy. We have loads of new material we will be premiering and we have already started reimagining a Low song in the style of Red Mountain. You can definitely expect a spectacle!”
If you want to keep the party going or simply prefer the nightlife, Silverback Colony and Rich Mattson and the Northstars will be closing out Mr. D’s, with their respective alt-country and cosmic folk tunes.
Day Five: Soup Town Night
Thursday, May 5
With the exception of shows at the Reef Bar and Chester Creek Café, Duluthians will need to traverse a bridge on Thursday to take part in the debauchery. The action starts on the corner of Broadway Street and Hammond Avenue, then flows down Broadway to Tower Avenue.
If you’re craving caffeine and indie folk tunes, the Red Mug Coffehouse abides. Or, if you’re in the mood for classy ambiance, check out the Spirit Room upstairs, where singer-songwriter Ann Kathryn takes the stage. If you want to see the Duluth Dolls strut their stuff, head to the Superior Flame.
Music commences at the Thirsty Pagan at 9:45 with Rob May, followed by the Déjà vu Drifters and Black River Revue. Get there early if you require elbow room, the Pagan’s bar area is typically packed long before the opening band begins.
The Surfactants play a reunion show at the Main Club at midnight. Vocalist Marcus Matthews moved to Los Angeles a while back, which put the kibosh on the band. But he’s traveling back especially for Homegrown. Drummer and programmer Zac Bentz says they’ll have at least a couple new songs and anticipates they’ll record again. As for the show, “You can be sure that Marcus will be bringing something special to the stage,” says Bentz. “Right now, if he follows through on what he’s been hinting/threatening … I’m not sure anyone will be able to post any photos from the show.”
Day Six: Rawk Night
Friday, May 6
If it’s Friday and you don’t already have a plan, there’s no point in pondering, it’ll make your head spin. There are no special showcases or fancy gimmicks, just 51 acts spread across 16 venues from Beaner’s in the west to Sir Ben’s in the east. Pick a starting point and get ready to hit Homegrown full throttle.
Songstress Emily Haavik and the band she put together a few Homegrowns ago play the Underground at 6 p.m. They’ll perform new tunes from the album they’re recording — their first ever. Haavik recently moved to the Twin Cities, which makes rehearsals and recording challenging, but the band is invested in making it happen and anticipates a June release date.
Due to a schedule conflict, the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra isn’t an official part of Homegrown this year, but you can show your wristband to get into a dress rehearsal of Orff’s Carmina Burana from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at the DECC’s Symphony Hall. Pop in for a few minutes or the whole rehearsal.
The Social Animals may have moved on to bigger cities like Portland and Nashville, but fortunately the band manages to find its way home. Their Homegrown set starts at 11:30 p.m. at Pizza Lucé, followed by Big Wave Dave and the Ripples and their crowd-pleasing blend of soul and funk. Show up at Lucé early or get left out in the cold.
Day Seven: Roll Night
Saturday, May 7
If there’s a day during Homegrown where you simply can’t pike out, it’s Saturday. Start with a mimosa and quick bite at Chester Creek Café, where music starts at 10 a.m.
Then, get ready to run with the rockers. Alan Sparhawk leads the roughly five-mile Rock ’n’ Run, a newish Homegrown tradition and sure hangover cure (sometimes it’s good to barf). The run starts and ends at Chester Bowl Park, where the Homegrown Kickball Classic begins at noon.
Once the physical part is done, Sacred Heart Music Center offers a righteous setting to regroup. The Classical Music Showcase features Twin Ports Choral Project, Courtney Ellian, North Wind Flute Choir, Jacob Jonker Guitar Duo, William Bastian and Lyric Opera of the North.
Lion or Gazelle launch the evening shift at Beaner’s, followed by Planemo. Mark Lindquist, one of the early forces behind the festival, comes out of hibernation this year with his solo version of the Little Black Books. Ever old school, he still records on a cassette four-track and plans to release a vinyl single later this year.
After that, all the action is downtown. Father Hennepin — the founding band of the fest — celebrates Starfire’s birthday with a set at the Red Herring. The Spin Collective fire dancers will again light up the Minnesota Power Plaza. And the most animalistic lineup of the night happens at the Rex, where Ire Wolves, Lord Montague, Actual Wolf and the Black-eyed Snakes howl and bite.
Day Eight: Sunday Brunch and Recovery
Sunday, May 8
Though you’ll be tempted to rip off that pesky wristband, the best way to nurse your epic weeklong bender is by slowing weaning yourself off both the addictive substances and live performances. That’s what second Sundays are for.
It should be noted, however, that none of today’s events require a wristband, so go ahead and tear the damn thing off.
You’re sure to be ravenous after all the carousing. Head to Tycoons Alehouse to grab some grub, a bloody mary and a Hempen Ale snit. Sing! A Women’s Chorus starts at noon. Chorus director Mags David suggests getting there early because the opening piece is designed to soothe hangovers.
“We’ve got your feel-good sound with no startling noises,” says David. Her chorus will show off its first-ever song in five-part harmony as well as performing a couple of West African tunes learned while working with David’s mentor, Sowah Mensah of St. Paul.
Also happening at noon: a second encore of the Homegrown Music Video Festival at the Red Herring.
Canal Park Brewing Company has a bloody mary bar and a lineup of three bands. The music ranges from acoustic to upbeat to old-timey. Once you’ve got a good buzz and some feel-good vibes, Canal Park’s patio is also a fine place to gaze out onto the lake to contemplate your eventual return to normalcy, whatever that means for you.
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.
Barrel Room at Fitger’s Brewhouse
600 E. Superior St.
(218) 279-2739
fitgersbrewhouse.com
The former Red Star Lounge is now called the Barrel Room at Fitger’s Brewhouse. Features award-winning beer, specialty cocktails and rawk and/or roll. Must be 21 or older; paid admission required.
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.
Bent Paddle Brewing Company
1912 W. Michigan St.
(218) 279-2722
bentpaddlebrewing.com
Brewery and tap room in the Duluth’s friendly West End. Must be 21 or older; free admission.
Canal Park Brewing Co.
300 Canal Park Drive
(218) 464-4790
canalparkbrewery.com
Restaurant and brewery in Duluth’s Canal Park. All ages permitted; free admission.
Carmody Irish Pub
308 E. Superior St.
(218) 740-4747
carmodyirishpub.com
Irish-themed brew pub in Downtown Duluth hosting Sunday-night Pub Quiz. Must be 21 or older; free admission.
Chester Bowl Park
1801 E. 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 Wine Bar
1902 E. Eighth St.
(218) 723-8569
astccc.net
The restaurant inside Taran’s Marketplace in Duluth’s Chester Park neighborhood has a wine bar that hosts Thursday night and Saturday morning shows. Must be 21 or older; 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. Shows in concert hall restricted to ages 21 and up and require weeklong pass; upstairs mezzanine shows are open to all ages and are free.
Dubh Linn Irish Pub
109 W. Superior St.
(218) 727-1559
dubhlinnpub.com
Irish-themed pub in Downtown Duluth. 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; paid admission required.
Gopher Restaurant & Lounge
402 N. Central Ave.
(218) 624-9793
Spacious bar and restaurant in heart of West Duluth. 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
32 W. First St.
(218) 720-0747
legacyglassworks.com
Glass-blowing shop in Downtown Duluth. All ages permitted; free admission.
The Main Club
1217 Tower Ave.
(715) 392-1756
mainclubsuperior.com
GLBT 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 “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.
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.
Prøve Gallery
21 N. Lake Ave.
(612) 205-6174
provegallery.com
Experimental art gallery in Downtown Duluth. All ages permitted; free admission.
Red Herring Lounge
208 E. First St.
(218) 481-7318
redherringlounge.com
Music and arts club in Downtown Duluth. Must be 21 or older; paid admission required for music events, Monday photo exhibit and Sunday video festival screening are free.
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.
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
Old-school bar 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 in Duluth’s Central Hillside neighborhood; 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.
The Spirit Room
1323 Broadway St.
(715) 817-4775
spirit-room.com
Drinking establishment with tapas menu, located in Trade and Commerce Marketplace in Superior. Must be 21 or older; free admission.
The Sports Garden
425 S. Lake Ave.
(218) 722-4724
thesportsgarden.com
Giant nightclub/restaurant in Canal Park, formerly known as Grandma’s Sports Garden. Must be 21 or older; paid admission required.
Spurs on First
109 W. First St.
(218) 491-7110
Duluth’s only country/western bar. Must be 21 or older; paid admission required.
Studio 15
15 N. Third Ave. W.
(612) 203-4300
Art gallery and community arts studio with punk-rock edge. All ages; free admission.
Superior Flame Nightclub
1612 Tower Ave.
(715) 395-0101
superiorflame.com
Happening little gay bar in Superior. Must be 21 or older; paid admission required.
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.
Thirsty Pagan Brewing
1623 Broadway St.
(715) 394-2500
thirstypaganbrewing.com
Microbrewery and pizza 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 for Friday and Saturday shows, Sunday night and Sunday brunch are free admission.
The Underground
506 W. Michigan St.
(218) 733-7555
duluthunderground.org
Satellite theater of the Duluth Playhouse tucked in basement of Duluth Depot. All ages permitted; paid admission required.
Vikre Distillery
525 S. Lake Ave
(218) 481-7401
vikredistillery.com Craft gin, vodka, aquavit and whiskey distillery in Duluth’s Canal Park. Must be 21 or older; free admission.
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; paid admission required.
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.
Ride, ride, ride … hitchin’ a ride
Homegrown is once again offering free shuttle service via a handsome trolley replica bus on Friday and Saturday nights from 7 p.m. until 1 a.m. The generous sponsorship of the Duluth Transit Authority and Greater Downtown Council make this possible.
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. It will stop at the Fitger’s Brewery Complex, Teatro Zuccone, Tycoons Alehouse, Pizza Lucé, Dubh Linn Irish Pub, R.T. Quinlan’s Saloon and the Underground.
There will be musicians performing on the bus both nights, from 8 to 10 p.m. Friday’s featured acts are Tyler Scouton and Clover Street Cronies. Saturday features Teague Alexy and Chris Clemons.
Sunday, May 1 – Sunday, May 8, 2016
Homegrown Music Festival Band Profiles
Actual Wolf
11pm Sat 5/7
Rex Bar
Despite what the name might imply, show-goers should not expect to literally encounter a wild canine on stage for this performance. Then again, you never know. What can be expected is a polished set of alt-country tunes led by singer/guitarist Eric Pollard. Splitting his time between the frigid north and warmer climates, Pollard has been working hard on a new album that should be out later this year. He’s backed by a rhythm section of drummer Jeremy Hanson and bassist Steve Garrington, along with the guitar stylings of Jake Hanson and Erik Koskinen.
The Adjustments
10:30pm Sat 5/7
Tycoons Alehouse
The Adjustments have been a four-member rock/blues band in northern Minnesota since 2010. Founding members Justin Lofquist, Alex Nelson and Timy “Paul” Nelson were joined by drummer Charles Lattimore III in 2013. Having moved to Duluth from Chicago, Lattimore found himself in the band just one week after his arrival in town. The group has been gigging extensively in the Duluth area and on the Iron Range to promote its second studio album, At North Shore, which was written and recorded in Alex Nelson’s home studio in Lakeside between March 2014 and January 2016.
Teague Alexy and Friends
7pm Wed 5/4
Clyde Iron Works
Homegrown crowds get to indulge in a multi-layered musical experience whenever Teague Alexy takes the stage. He has been known to incorporate a wide variety of instruments and often adds band members to the stage as the night goes on, creating a potluck of sound. While he’s best known for his music — either teaming with his brother Ian in the Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank or under his own name with a variety of backing bands — he also dabbles in rhyming folktales, having released a book called The New Folklore: Lyrical Tales for Dreamers & Thinkers in October. His band for Homegrown is expected to include Matt Mobley on bass, Tyler Dubla on drums and probably a few surprises.
Aly Aleigha 6pm Thurs 5/4
Red Mug Coffeehouse
Aly Aleigha is a Christian indie-folk singer/songwriter who plays banjo and guitar. She moved to Duluth shortly after recording her first EP, Jealous Love, in 2015. Aleigha says she’s inspired by the area’s rich folk history. She’ll play her first Homegrown with a formidable band of musicians. Peter Brown supplies piano, drums and vocals, Reggie Ducote plays bass guitar, drums, guitar and mandolin, Justin Kostecka lends lead vocals and lead guitar, Kevin Pilon sings and plays guitar, Ericka McGovern and Elise Hauer contribute violin and Kelson Thomas rounds out the band on drums. They are working on a new album titled Valley of Tears.
American Rebels
10:30pm Thurs 5/5
Vintage Italian Pizza
American Rebels is a band of musicians who are woven into the Duluth music scene — all of them rocking in multiple bands around town. They come together to create music fueled by the feedback from Kyle MacLean and Bob Olson’s electric guitars, spun together with a driving force of bass welded by Heather Millis. Keeping the sound all mashed together and rocking is the pounding drums of Scott Millis. The Rebels pull their material from a hodgepodge of topics ranging from equality and freedom to the shores of Lake Superior.
Ann Kathryn
8:30pm Thurs 5/5
The Spirit Room
For more than a decade, Ann Kathryn Loop has been serenading Duluth. She’s been a regular Homegrown performer, first as the lead singer of the bands Mayfly and Lookdown Moon, and more recently as a solo artist. The singer-songwriter combines both plaintive and dramatic piano melodies with poignant lyrics, but her powerful vocals are the most striking aspect of her music. Loop has been busy recording her first solo album, which is expected to be released soon.
Mel Annala
10am Sat 5/7
Chester Creek Café Wine Bar Folk singer Mel Annala grew up in gritty West Duluth and picked up his first guitar in 1963 at the age of 12. One of his first bands, the Scarcity of Time, included high school friends John Sorenson and Phil Jewell, and the folk trio played protest songs in the late 1960s. Annala has been playing on and off in bands since, and has been active on the scene as a solo artist since 2006. His set lists still echo the sentiment of yesteryears, channeled through his warm vocals and polished acoustic guitar work. His 2012 release In Your Eyes contains a collection of traditional folk covers and originals.
Average Mammals 10:15pm Fri 5/6
Barrel Room at Fitger’s Brewhouse This three-piece ensemble has been weaving musical stories since 2011, influenced by out-of-the-boxers like Lou Reed and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Ryan Mulner is guitarist/vocalist and drummer Josh Lubovich also sings. Grant Hagen holds it all together with a steady bass backing. Their shows consist of mostly original music from the 2014 album Life Under the Influence, with a few covers thrown in.
Ball Slashers
9:45pm Mon 5/2
Barrel Room at Fitger’s Brewhouse
Ball Slashers play heavy, fast, slow and noisy. “We play music without worrying about what others think of our music,” says guitarist Joe Ulvi. The group has been tearing up the Twin Ports for three years and includes Pete Biasi on bass, Erik Freitag on drums and lead screamer Jason Watt. The Ball Slashers are inspired by veteran New Jersey punkers Electric Frankenstein and English doom metal giants Electric Wizard. Oh yeah, and slashing exercise balls for sexual gratification also has something to do with it.
A Band Called Truman 8:45pm Tues 5/3
The Sports Garden
After six years of bringing horn-driven rock, ska and funk, A Band Called Truman just keeps on adding members and getting more hyperactive. Frontman Leon Rohrbaugh bounces all over the stage belting out vocals while bassist Tom Wilkowski, keyboardist Jim Pospisil and drummer Chris Modec-Halverson sing along. The horn section consists of Brad Bombardier on saxophone, Kirby Wood and Jess Lilja-Olson on trumpet and Dale Schimmin blowing the old trombone. Together, the eight of them own three sweet motorcycles and two broken-down ones.
Batteries
8:15pm Mon 5/2
Red Herring Lounge Alt-rock band Batteries has been at it just a bit over a decade, and each member of the band has played in an assortment of other projects throughout that time. Longtime band members Greg Cougar Conley and Dave Frankenfeld contribute guitar and vocals, while Bryon Gaynor handles the bass. In recent years the husband-and-wife team of Scott and Heather Millis have rounded out the band on drums and organ, respectively. Their sets are all over the map, with “1950s-inspired rock ’n’ roll, damaged doo-wop, classic indie rock and nods toward ’80s-style new wave.”
Erik Berry
9:30pm Sun 5/1
Tycoons Alehouse
When not accompanying Trampled by Turtles, mandolinist Erik Berry entertains Duluthians solo. He began as a guitar player at age 12, but later discovered a love for other instruments, including the bass, which he played in several bands. At age 24, he picked up the mandolin, and found that the chords he liked to strum on the guitar and the percussion lines he enjoyed playing on the bass could both be done on the mandolin. At his solo shows, he plays an instrumental mixture of original compositions, Celtic, bluegrass and other mandolin music, and is sometimes accompanied on upright bass by Matt Mobley.
Beyond Bliss
7:15pm Sat 5/7
Amazing Grace
The hip-hop and electro-pop artist formerly known as Bliss has gone Beyond Bliss. To total ecstasy? No, not like that. After more than a decade performing music in Duluth, David Kittleson pushed through personal struggles over this past year and is focusing on living in the present. “Dealing with close family death, broken relationships and missed opportunities caused me to take a short break from performing,” he says. “I’m hoping to put the recent struggles and hardships of my personal life into writing and complete a new album titled Beyond Bliss. After all, that’s what art is … taking the negative and using it to create something positive. I’ve gone beyond the person and artist I use to be.”
Big Science
6pm Sun 5/1
Teatro Zuccone
This science project began when Chris Modec-Halverson emailed local experimental musicians he admired to see if they’d be interested in collaborating. The resulting collective is a study in noise, drone and ambient improvisation, with performances as mesmerizing to watch as they are to listen to. Modec-Halverson’s Bratwurst band mate Tyler Scouton and Jake Larson of the Social Disaster add synth weirdness, do-it-yourself wizard Tim Kaiser plays his homemade acousto-electric contraptions, and Christian McShane of If Thousands is credited with playing “sitars, gourds and squealing pigs.” Aaron Molina, also of If Thousands, plays bass and Jon Choi adds violin. It’s a safe bet even the conventional instruments will be used in unconventional ways.
Big Wave Dave and the Ripples
12:30am Fri 5/6
Pizza Lucé
Formerly a Thursday night house band at Rex Bar, this eight-piece soul-and-funk outfit has become a favorite at numerous festivals and special events in the region. Some of the 2015 highlights: Fourth Fest at Bayfront Park, Hopped Up Caribou Beer Festival, Duluth Huskies home opener, Oktoberfest Golf and Fun Day in Poplar, Concerts on the Pier at Glensheen and so on and so forth. “Big Wave” Dave Adams fronts the group on vocals, with Alex Piazza on bass, Andy Olmstead on guitar, Dave Mennes on drums, Steve Rogers on tenor sax, Matt Wasmund on baritone sax, David Rode on trumpet and Alex Nordehn on trombone.
Black Diary
10:30pm Sat 5/7
Teatro Zuccone
Featured during the new band showcase at Homegrown 2015, Black Diary had the normally noisy Pizza Lucé crowd as quiet as a church. Layering the haunting vocals of Rachel Phoenix and sisters Tasha and Sophie Turk with Jesse Hoheisel’s hypnotic guitar rhythms creates an unforgettable and intimate experience. The band’s single “Old Copper” appears on the Beaner’s Central One Week Live, Vol. 14 compilation.
The Black-eyed Snakes
12pm Sat 5/7
Rex Bar
If the Black-eyed Snakes were a kid he would be old enough to drive a car. But that hasn’t stopped the band from driving the scene’s thirst for head-bangable blues throughout its 16 years. Getting a double-dose of drums from Brad Nelson and Bryan “Lefty” Johnson, Bob Olson and vocalist “Chickenbone George” Alan Sparhawk crank out gritty guitar riffs to send listeners into a rhythmic rapture of rock and roll. Having popped up everywhere from train cars to dive bars to Rich Narum’s living room, this four-piece powerhouse has secured itself a place as a local favorite.
Black River Revue
11:45pm Thurs 5/5
Thirsty Pagan Brewing
Playing in a genre known as “prog-rass,” or progressive bluegrass, Black River Revue focuses all effort into putting on an epic live show. Using a mouth harp and guitar, Adam Stariha creates light melodies and song lyrics that jump around the bouncy-bass playing of Ian Kvale. The band performs a lot of fast-pace licks, with Tim “Tucker” Leutgeb rounding out the band on five-string banjo, and Joseph “Meat Mountain” Berg pulling it all together with his spoons and washboard beats.
Boku Frequency
11:30 p.m. Fri 5/6
Red Herring Lounge
Boku Frequency’s Duluth roots are embroiled in the colorful history of the notorious Red Lion Bar. The band has the distinction of surviving a lengthy stint as the “house band” for the raucous saloon, playing every Friday night from 2003 until the legendary place shuttered its doors in 2007. In the past year Harvey Hanson has joined the group on drums, but otherwise the psychedelic funk and soulful rock music created by guitarist Terry “Redeye Dread” Gums and bassist Thomas “Too Sharp” Harris hasn’t changed a lot. The band offers up infectious grooves and feel-good vibes.
The Boomchucks
10pm Mon 5/2
Rex Bar Jamie Ness and Brad Nelson have been teaming up as the Boomchucks since 2008. Their easygoing, upbeat sound easily inspires foot-stomping and dancing. The folk-rock duo released its much-anticipated second album, Antidote, in September, and has a rendition of Bob Dylan’s classic “Maggie’s Farm” on the Bringing it All Back to Duluth Does Dylan compilation scheduled for release in time for Dylan’s 75th birthday on May 24.
Borderstone
3:30pm Sun 5/8
Canal Park Brewing
Borderstone began as a duo, but has evolved into a five-piece traditional bluegrass ensemble that frequents the Tuesday jams at Sir Benedict’s Tavern on the Lake. Guitarist Ryan Morgan and mandolin player Nicholas Klee shared a love of the 1940s and ‘50s pickin’ styles of Flatt & Scruggs and the mandolin work of Bill Monroe. Like Monroe, Borderstone is influenced by gospel and folk music with rich vocal harmonies. Other band members are John Rainwater on banjo, Rachel Reichert on fiddle and Nicholas Glass on bass.
The Bottle Jockeys
12am Fri 5/6
R.T. Quinlan’s Saloon
Chad Lyons, Ben Marsen and Scott Millis carry forward the vintage pub-rock sound of their former band, the Acceleratii, in this repackaged shitstorm called the Bottle Jockeys. Joining the fray are former Giljunko members Tony Derrick and Chris Whittier, as if the band needed to get weirder. Their first show was at last year’s Homegrown, and since that rehearsal they’ve played a smattering of shows at fine establishments such as the Owls Club. The group is driven and inspired by a cornucopia of late-1960s and mid-’70s rhythm and blues, but more so by cheap lagers and pilsners.
Bratwurst
12am Saturday 5/7
R.T. Quinlan’s Saloon
Though the band doesn’t play often, Bratwurst is notorious for its onstage antics. Tyler Scouton is the ringmaster of the motley collection of performers, which also includes Ben Tryon, Jason Ratajek, Brennan Atchison and Chris Modec-Halverson. Bratwurst’s avant-garde industrial sound is borne of both conventional and unconventional instruments. Metallic objects like sewage pipe and garbage cans augment guitar, bass and drums. Raw meat, projected video, pyrotechnics and power tools typically play a role in performances. Those who are squeamish and noise-averse should steer clear.
Breanne Marie & the Front Porch Sinners
11:30pm Thurs 5/5
Vintage Italian Pizza After taking some time off to attend to new family business, singer/songwriter Breanne Tepler returns to the stage in 2016. Surely her group will pick up where it left off in 2015. The band built up a nice following with a debut album in 2013, an EP in 2014, and a well-received appearance on WDSE-TV’s The PlayList. Evan Tepler takes lead guitar duties with help from Johnny Peterson on pedal steel. Mark Glen and John LaMar provide the bass and drums to flesh-out the five-piece, authentic Grand Ole Opry sound.
Bridget’s Cadillac
8:30pm Sun 5/1
Tycoons Alehouse
Bridget Ideker is part singer, part actress and full-on firecracker in a style reminiscent of a sharp-tongued Clara Bow-esque flapper for this tin-can blues band. Guitarist Vincent Hladilek, dummer Nick Petolleti, bassist Dre Monson and blues harpist Patrick McKinnon dispense ragtime stomps and smoky speakeasy gambols that allow Ideker, winner of Beaner’s Central 2014 Songwriter Contest, to croon in character. Their authentic performances serve as a pertinent companion, if not a fresh alternative, to the other neo-retro styles that all too often deluge popular music these days.
The Brothers Burn Mountain
11:30pm Fri 5/6
Tycoons Alehouse
Brothers Jesse and Ryan Dermody formed the Brothers Burn Mountain more than 16 years ago and have been performing their haunting blues, dark country and twisted rock across the Midwest-and-beyond ever since. The duo has recorded eight full-length albums and played more than 1,300 shows over the years, including a two-year residency at Fitger’s Brewhouse. Former Duluth News Tribune music reviewer John Zeigler wrote in 2012 that the Brothers Burn Mountain sound “like Honeyboy Edwards, Howlin’ Wolf, Jimmy Page and Jack White thrown into a high-speed blender that elicits a blues-based brew that explodes like a nail-filled pipe bomb.”
Mary Bue & the Holy Bones
9:45pm Tues 5/3
The Sports Garden
Singer-songwriter Mary Bue has put out six albums since 2000, switching genres from solo pianist to electrified indie rock for the 2015 release Holy Bones. She performed over 90 shows across the country last year in support of the album, which was ranked among the year’s top 10 Minnesota releases by the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Her backing band, which has come to be known as the Holy Bones, includes her husband, Kyle MacLean, on guitar, Scott Millis on drums, Heather Millis on bass, and Zac Bentz and Brett Molitor playing keyboards.
Cello Choir
5pm Fri 5/6
The Underground
Dr. Betsy Husby, cello professor at UMD and principal cellist of the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, is coordinating a cello group for Homegrown comprised of high school and college orchestra students, and DSSO cellists. “We have done this the past two years,” Husby says, “performing once with the DSSO Chamber Music Series at the Underground, and once in Weber Hall on the UMD campus last May.”
Hanna Cesario
8:30pm Tues 5/3
Vikre Distillary
Hanna Cesario made her mark on the Duluth music scene after graduating from UMD in 2012, playing jazz standards on ukulele at local bars and coffee shops. She moved back to her hometown of Mankato in 2014, but traveled to Duluth to record her debut album, Ain’t Misbehavin’, in the basement of the Red Herring Lounge. The disc features Cesario’s arrangements of some of her favorite standards, recorded and mastered by Brian Ring and featuring Matt Mobley on bass, Sam Miltich on guitar and Chad Erlemeier on percussion.
Chase Down Blue
10:15 Wed 5/4
Clyde Iron Works
Things are in motion for Chase Down Blue after the August release of Two Timing Teeth an EP full of airy, lo-fi alternative folk. The band followed up with a strong string of shows and soon started laying down tracks for a brand new, full-length album. But it’s the sound that has progressed the most. The sonic exchange between Micah Tigner and Cyrus Pireh’s guitars, Sam Williams’ drums, and Lee Petersen’s bass have matured into a deeper, more confident post-punk venture while the vocal harmonies of Tigner and Petersen have developed into an aural weapon of their own.
Chasm of Czar
12:15am Wed 5/4
Kom-on-Inn
When Chasm of Czar played its first Homegrown last year, the band consisted of Dan Krause on drums and Conor Glenn on guitar. Since then, the band has beefed up. Now Krause and Glenn both play guitar and they’ve added Chris Hall on bass and Jeremy Crabbs on drums. Krause says the band’s new iteration has expanded its rhythmic and melodic possibilities. “We basically have an entirely new set compared to last year’s Homegrown. So it’ll be quite the show, I think.” Their music is entirely instrumental. It’s driving, aggressive rock that borders on metal. The band hopes to record after Homegrown and put something out soon afterward.
Al Church
9:30pm Fri 5/6
Pizza Lucé
Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, co-producer, teacher, zine publisher, dance-rock visionary — Al Church is all of those things. His critically acclaimed newest album Next Summer captures a sweaty mix of slick, orchestrated dance-club rock with intimate lyrics, vocals and personal subject matter. Joining him on stage are Matt Sandstedt and Ryan Rupprecht on keys, Randy Lee on sax, Jeff Marcovis on drums, and Evan Fox on bass. Though technically a Twin Cities project, various members, including the front man himself, originally hailed from the Twin Ports and continue to support music locally in both areas on a regular basis.
Toby Thomas Churchill
11pm Sat 5/7
R.T. Quinlan’s Saloon
Toby Churchill is one of four guys who have played all 18 Homegrown Music Festivals. He started out in the bands Crazy Betty and the Alrights before slapping his first, middle and last name on his work, which so far has resulted in two albums — 2011’s Death and 2014’s Where is My Rumspringa Darling? His band is comprised of Danny Cosgrove, Ben Durrant, Ryan Lovan, James Everest and sometimes Martin Dosh. Last year they opened for folk rocker Elvis Perkins at First Avenue. “A lot of people probably don’t know who he is,” Churchill says, “but I do, and it’s great.”
Condition
9pm Fri 5/6
R.T. Quinlan’s Saloon
This trio’s style is not easily pigeonholed. Guitarist and vocalist Derek Cherrington writes songs that lean toward grungy distortion and ominous lyrics while keyboardist Corrine DeCoteau uses her experience as a New York City DJ to provide a softer, dance-club synthesizer landing area for the heavier guitar sound to settle. Craig Cherrington has band experience dating back to playing Duluth Armory showcases decades ago. His drumming offers a well-timed go-between inside the distinct musical concepts of the other two members. The result is something like an alt-rock remake of an early 1980s Brian De Palma psycho-thriller movie soundtrack.
Crazy Neighbors
10:30pm Wed 5/4
Mr. D’s Bar & Grill
That its members hail from up there in the natural beauty of Ely seems befitting of a roots-rock group that writes a lot about sunshine, moonshine, blizzards and campfires. The organic sound of Crazy Neighbors is sing-along casual and major-league radio ready. The band’s self-titled 2015 album (its second) features classic harmonies and gorgeous analog 1970s AOR-style rock reminiscent of bands like Stealers Wheel and Spooky Tooth. Aaron Kaercher and Pat Hawkinson share guitar duties, Kyle Westrick handles bass and Andy Messerschmidt hits the drums.
The Crunchy Bunch
11:30 Sat 5/7
Red Herring Lounge
Four young men from the streets of Duluth — friends and music lovers — formed this DJ/production collective in 2009. Incorporating a philosophy of musical diversity, they blend future, electro and house with old- and new-school hip hop, funk and rap into their sets. After six years together, Privilege (Chris LeBlanc), Mr. Ness (Alexis LeBlanc), BranoLogic (Dan Branovan) and HazelTron (Jack Hazelton) have played hundreds of shows, encouraging everyone they encounter to shake their groove thangs.
Dad’s Acid
10:45pm Mon 5/2
Barrel Room at Fitger’s
Jacob Swanson describes Dad’s Acid as “good ol’ fashioned rock and roll filtered through whiskey and dope.” That filtering process must account for the surf punk, garage band, dark and gritty sound produced. Nikki Moeller’s fuzzy bass complements the reverb heavy twangs from Swanson’s guitar and vocals while Jacob Paulsrud screams into the mic and keeps perfect time to keep the head-banging going. The trio released its first EP in 2014 and put it to cassette last year.
Dance Attic
11:45pm Fri 5/6
Lake Avenue Restaurant & Bar
Cross a guitar virtuoso with an accordion aficionado and lock them in an attic full of 78 rpm records and that’s Dance Attic. The brainchild of accordionist and vocalist Suzi Ludwig and longtime Fractals guitarist Jimi Cooper, a singer in his own right, Dance Attic is an upbeat, swinging reminder of what parlor music sounded like in America during the first part of the previous century. The collaboration started in 2014 when Cooper and Ludwig discovered a mutual affection for old-time American music, polkas, Italian romantic and other folk music. The tunes are happy and fun, reminiscent of R. Crumb and His Cheap Suit Serenaders or a stack of grandpa’s cherished gramophones.
Danecdote
8:30pm Sat 5/7
Legacy Glassworks
The musically bipolar Daniel Nelson draws influences from whatever he may be listening to at the time. The result is a 10-year career in front of his laptop producing upbeat, dance-worthy, electronic, hip-hop music. He recently celebrated his fifth year putting music out under the Danecdote name. Along with a plethora of original albums and remixes, Nelson collaborates with a long list of other local musicians. His latest creation, Passage EP,was released last year.
Dare 2 Kill
9:15pm Fri 5/6
Studio 15
The music from Dare 2 Kill is a post-punk, occasionally fuzzy, often melodic tug-of-war between the guitarist from space rockers Jeff the Cat and the drummer from the ever-popular thrashers Mr. Kickass. The name Dare 2 Kill is a cheeky phonetic combination of said guitarist Sean Kihlstadius and drummer Jacob Daire. Kooky band names aside, these two started jamming in 2009 and offer a cool mix of their other projects’ best attributes. As their repertoire grows, so does the potential for a monster release of official recordings in the near future.
The Dark Underbelly
9pm Fri 5/6
Sir Benedict’s Tavern
This rather new progressive-rock quartet features the avant-garde poetry of Robert Petoletti backed by drummer Nick Petoletti, bassist Joe Anderson and guitarist Corey Davis. Though the songs’ heavy themes are conceived by the elder Petoletti’s spoken word diatribes, the band vision is that of the son Nick, who uses his vast experience from playing in other local bands to direct the hard-but-eclectic rock music. He also smartly recruited Anderson and Davis to frame the front and back end of the still developing sound. A full-length album is in the works for 2016.
Dead End Friends
10:30pm Fri 5/6
Red Herring Lounge
When their song “F*#$% Everybody” was featured as bumper music for the Minneapolis sports radio station KFAN’s morning show The Power Trip, it seemed right at home. With big, fast guitars, strong, rock-n-jock bass/drums, stadium anthem vocals and professional sounding production, the Dead End Friends represented their home team (Duluth) quite well. They’ve performed locally since 2011, have one album under their belt, and have started gigging regularly in the Twin Cities. Ben Anderson, Phil McLoughlin and Joe Warttman share vocals and guitar/bass fuzz while drummer Pete Hannegraf keeps the speedy tempos tightly packed for long, animated sets.
Dear Interceptor
9pm Tues 5/3
Prøve Gallery
Healthy punk scenes generally start with a misfit collection of do-it-yourself kids who simply share an attitude and love of a particular style. They accommodate touring bands from similar scenes with basement shows, a couch to sleep on and promises of future split seven-inch records. Dear Interceptor resides in the heart of the young Duluth punk scene and plays a big part in keeping it healthy. More recently, the band’s original thrash sound has revealed a catchy, pop-ish, innocent teen-angst side to hardcore songwriting thanks to guitarists Joel Kunze and Zack Pederson, vocalist Connor Slawson, bassist Tori Heidenreich and drummer Caden Dudek.
Déjà vu Drifters
10:45pm Thurs 5/5
Thirsty Pagan
The Déjà vu Drifters have been haunting local stages for the past six years, although members have been playing locally for nearly 40 years in various groups. The present members played together in the late 1970s and early ’80s as the Sawtooth Mountain Boys. Mike Mattson, Rick Olson and Steve “Chief” Johnson all play a variety of stringed instruments while crooning through almost every genre in their upbeat sets. They were the opening act at the 2014 Bayfront Blues Festival and have played a monthly gig at Thirsty Pagan Brewing pretty much since the band was formed.
Devil’s Flying Machine
11pm Mon 5/2
Rex Bar After repeatedly packing the Red Herring Lounge during his January residency, Charlie Parr hit the road. Various stops in the Midwest and West Coast — and a two-week stint in Australia — precede his return to Duluth, where he joins up with his three-piece side project. Devil’s Flying Machine plays music for car crashes — or, as drummer David Frankenfeld puts it, “damaged country blues, experimental meanderings, lost reckonings, haunted revivals and trains appropriately off track, all in an effort to make things right again.” Fans stomp, howl and sway to Parr’s raspy gospel-esque scorching blues while Christian McShane’s guitar reverberates through the room. The band recently recorded “Quinn the Eskimo” for the upcoming Bringing it all Back to Duluth Does Dylan compilation.
Dirty Horse 11pm Thurs 5/5
Reef Bar This tight four-piece “pontoon rock” band has been mostly together for six years, having recently recruited drummer number three. The 2011 EP Tartan reveals careful interwoven song structures, complex lyrics and harmonious string windings. Founding members are Nate Case on vocals and a guitar, Andy Olmstead on guitar and Brian Wells filling in the bottom with deft bass riffing. Rio Daugherty keeps the time on the skins. In addition to Tartan, the band released the single “Monster of a Man” in 2013.
Dirty Knobs
6:15pm Saturday 5/7
Amazing Grace
If Stephen King novels had soundtracks they might sound like this ambient drone group. Zac Bentz is the founding member and primary sound generator/mastermind. This year Bryon Gaynor and his bass are back. Eric Anderson will also be joining the group on bass and some electronics. Dirty Knobs sounds like a mash-up of robots reciting binary numbers, chanting Tibetan monks and fuzzy assorted sounds. Among the roughly 30 Dirty Knobs albums released since 1999, the latest is Obliteration Ballads: Lovesongs by Dying Supermachines, unless a new one came out while this sentence was in production.
Discord at Dawn
10:15pm Mon 5/2
Red Herring Lounge
This “loudest of nerds” band is new to Homegrown, but its members have all been part of the Duluth music scene for years. Joel Conley and Andy Morrow handle guitars and vocals, while drummer David Anderson and bass player Bryon Gaynor take care of the rhythm. “We bring you encyclopedic knowledge and hard rock riffs,” says Conley. “We infuse mathematics with metal, biology with harmony, and logic with guitar licks.”
DJ Path Annu
9:30 Tues 5/3
Vikre Distillery
DJ Path Annu, legally recognized as Patrick Hannu, is a wax junkie dropping funky beats to get the party moving. Having frequently collaborated with various local artists, Hannu produces original concoctions of house music that turns assorted influences into a solid electronic mix. Over the past 11 years he’s had enough residencies and events to arguably be dubbed the busiest DJ in town, and that’s not a title to be tossed around lightly. Rumor has it that he’ll be dedicating this year’s set to departing Homegrown Festival Director Walt Dizzo, which one can only hope will include some 1980’s heartbreak hits.
Dan Dresser Trio
12:30am Fri 5/6
Tycoons Alehouse
Last fall Dan Dresser inducted the full-length album Suffer It into his catalogue, which brought more of a rock-oriented sensation to the table than what many have come to expect. Through the collaborative instrumentation, his signature songwriting style still shone. The accompanying music video to the album’s title track shows the town breaking off from daily monotony to join in a climactic celebration, which is a fairly accurate depiction of Dresser’s musical mythos. Joining Dresser on stage this year are drummer Cory Coffman and bassist Matt Mobley to make for a well-rounded trio of players.
The Dudes
11pm Tues 5/3
Lake Avenue Restaurant & Bar
Paul Pederson and Bob Cora play old-school blues music on old-school blues instruments and have the actual pedigree to pull it off in an old-school blues way. Donning dobros, resonators, harmonicas and an arsenal of guitars including the historic Style “O” National, this duo offers an authentic set list full of ragtime, folk, Delta and country acoustic blues. Both have been performing locally for some time (Pederson since the early 1970s) with a variety of groups and recently changed their name from Cora and Pederson to the Dudes.
Duluth Dolls
9:15pm Thurs 5/5
Superior Flame Nightclub
First thing first: Duluth Dolls is not a rock band; it’s a burlesque act. But while the performers don’t wield guitars or hammer on drums, they bring a kick-ass rock ’n’ roll attitude to a dance genre nurtured in the American dance halls and theaters of the 19th Century. The northland’s premier burlesque and cabaret troupe includes Danie Jimenez, Aurora Borealis, Khaleesi Khaos, Jade Fury, Stella Blue, Lilly LaRouge and Miss Creant. Expect a lot of sassy attitude, colorful costumes and moves that will make Homegrown Festival Director Walt Dizzo blush.
Dyad
12:15am Sat 5/7
Duluth Flame Nightclub
One part old-school techno and one professional-school DJ, the duo made up of Derek Delgado and Jason Holmes has been making groovy all over the Twin Ports since 2000. Sometimes solo, sometimes accompanying other hip hoppers, they mix in a wide variety of styles. They both gig as support for Holmes’ DJ-ing company Bring the Noise Entertainment, while also producing recordings of original turntable music for more informal butt-shaking activities. Enough so that they seem at home spinning for a private Vista Fleet dance party as much as they do dropping trax for a hipster friend’s wedding.
EddieDition
10:30pm Sat 5/7
Legacy Glassworks
With the RPMs at which he drops his rhymes matched only by the hardcore attitude of his disposition, rapper Eddie Higgins has officially put the Twin Ports hip-hop scene on notice. In other words, he has arrived. For 10 years he has worked the label known as Poetic Chains while occasionally popping on stage when the mood feels right. Lately though, he’s upped the ante by teaming with renown local hip-hopper DJ Jazerton (Jesse Unger) to deliver super sonic speed rap with the apropos professional mixes. A much anticipated debut album is planned for spring 2016.
The Electric Witch
12:30am Sat 5/7
Pizza Lucé The synth-noir sounds of the Electric Witch seemed to descend out of nowhere in 2012, when a collection of classic NES covers titled NEScapism made its way onto some of the biggest gaming blogs in the world. The duo of Zac Bentz and Marcus Matthews expanded to become a live band with new members Stephanie Bentz and Eric Anderson. Matthews left in 2014 and was replaced by Mary Bue, who jumped at the chance to take over vocal duties, transforming into a glittering robot siren, luring the unwary to their doom. The band explores disturbing fantasy and glowing futurism with an edge of robotic vocals and echoing post-industrial soundscapes.
Emily Jayne and Fellas
11:45pm Wed 5/4
Gopher Lounge
Cloquet’s Emily Jayne Brissett-White has been playing piano since she was 14 years old. Her catalog of recordings includes two full-length albums, 2008’s Kore’s Bramble and 2011’s Blue Plate Fellas, and the two-track EP This Loneliness, released in August. At this year’s Homegrown, Emily Jayne’s original pop music mixed with heavy jazz features Mark Glen on bass, Travis Crotteau on guitar and Jim Mattson on drums.
The Fabulous D-Bags
12:15am Sat 5/7
Barrel Room at Fitger’s Not having a bass player, missing a drummer, or, in some cases, both, never stopped Vincent Hladilek and Brandon Eugene. Their punk-rock guitars, their pack-a-day vocals, their sweaty T-shirts and their attitude alone could carry them through any given fist-pumping performance. However, for the current repertoire of new songs, they have indeed added a real live rhythm section. In doing so, their style has expanded without losing any of the charming sneer. Their musical tantrums are now backed by the proper stomp and thump from bassist Jeremy Craig and drummer Nick Petoletti.
The Farsights
11pm Friday 5/6
R.T. Quinlan’s
The quirky, bespectacled power-trio of guitarist Phil Jents, bassist Brynn Sias and drummer Ryan Nelson has been performing together for nearly six years. Their melodic and maniacal sound is driven by beefy bass lines, punk beats and folk-song storytelling. In addition to regularly doubling as Maddy Siiter’s backing band, the Farsights also backed Duluth’s then-mayor Don Ness for a song about potholes at last year’s Homegrown.
Father Hennepin
8:30pm Sat 5/7
Red Herring Lounge
No band has played Homegrown more times than Father Hennepin. The band celebrates its 18th year at the 2016 festival, on the same day its ringleader Scott “Starfire” Lunt celebrates his 48th birthday. Since forming in 1998 to play Homegrown before it was called Homegrown, the band has missed playing the festival only twice. The lineup features Lunt on guitar and vocals, Ted Anderson on guitar and vocals, Susan Ludwig on accordion, Bob Olson on bass and Brad Nelson on drums. They don’t play many non-Homegrown gigs these days, but plan to tear things up at the adult prom at Little Nikki’s Bar & Grill in Cornucopia on April 16.
Fearless Moral Inventory
10:45pm Fri 5/6
Dubh Linn Irish Pub
The name alone keeps you guessing as to its meaning, so it makes sense that musically Fearless Moral Inventory doesn’t fit neatly into a well-defined genre. Most of the group’s compositions start simply enough with an alt-rock back and forth between founding members Andrew Stern and Corey Gice’s guitars. From there, however, songs can go in just about any direction the band dreams up: a little funky, metal-ish, melodic, indie-rock, emo, etc. Jim Mattson’s drums and Steve Karel’s bass (along with Stern’s erratic-in-a-good-way vocals) help the different styles fit together seamlessly in one clean package.
Feeding LeRoy
9:30pm Sat 5/7
Pizza Lucé
Sonja Bjordal and the ever-bearded and bandana’d Lee “Big Country” Martin are mainstays at Superior’s Thirsty Pagan Brewing, where they play a twice-monthly Saturday happy-hour gig. The duo underwent a few name changes and amped-up creative tangents before its acoustic, five-piece lineup solidified. Bassist Adam Staupe holds down the low end, Lee’s brother Luke Martin (previously an occasional attaché) added his harmonica to the regular mix last year, and Mark Macham on djembe is the newest addition to the lineup. Their strong vocal harmonies and wanderlusting lyrical tributes to the natural beauty of the lower 48 have become a signature of their contemporary folk sound. They released the EP Love is a Gamble in 2015 and at work on a follow-up.
Fever Dream
9:30pm Sat 5/7
Red Herring Lounge
Marc Gartman’s Fever Dream has been mesmerizing Duluth for three years now, with a trance-like danceable vibe. Gartman’s keys and vocals will be joined by Steve Garrington on bass and Alan Sparhawk on keyboard and vocals, both of Low and Retribution Gospel Choir. Gartman wrote and recorded a four-part suite of new Fever Dream music for a visual performance at Prøve Gallery in March, coordinated with Jessie Erickson and the Duluth Yoga Project. Shook Media made a short film of it, with plans to release it in time for Homegrown.
The Fiasco
12:45am Wed 5/4
Gopher Lounge
The Fiasco is anything but. This well-rehearsed rock’n’roll three-piece can mix it up in a variety of stage-savvy ways. Their barroom set lists are a combination of hard-rocking covers, traditional foot stompers and spaced-out originals. Guitarist and vocalist Andy Lipke, bassist John Favell and drummer John LaMar have gigged together since 2014 in this form, but have years of experience playing the Twin Ports and surrounding area in other bands with wide ranging styles. They plan to bring their originals into the studio and release an album in the near future.
The Fish Heads
11am Sat 5/7
Chester Creek Café Wine Bar
Longtime Duluth bluegrass band the Fish Heads has regrouped and added a whopper of a musician to its 2016 lineup. Multi-instrumentalist Paul Jones will join core members Kim Curtis-Monson and Mike Monson to form a talented string trio capable of playing anything from old folk standards to Aerosmith to Michael Jackson covers. Jones, who has spent time performing in Nashville and recorded a solo record, specializes in pedal steel, dobro and banjo. The group promises spine-tingling harmonies, reckless acoustic jams and more genre skipping than an FM car radio stuck on scan.
Bill Flannagan
10:45pm Fri 5/6
Lake Avenue Restaurant & Bar
Local crooner Bill Flannagan has performed around the area since he began playing R.T. Quinlan’s open mic nights in the mid 1990s. A throwback video of his 1995 performance of Leadbelly’s “Where Did You Sleep Last Night” recently popped up on Perfect Duluth Day’s video archives. Now, his rockin’, honky tonkin’, bluesy style includes a blend of covers and originals across almost every genre. According to Flannagan, the only requirement for a cover song to get into his repertoire is that it be a great song that moves him in one way or another.
The Fontanelles
10:30 Fri 5/6
Pizza Lucé
Duluth-born musician Dave Mehling has a lengthy solo catalog, plays in the band Portage and more recently started a collaboration with Stacy K called Mr. Dr. He started the Fontanelles with guitarist Darin Rieland in 2010, adding bassist Beau Jeffrey and drummer Jason McGlone two years later. Music fans need not be halfway through a tenth PBR to enjoy their uncomplicated and egoless brand of no-prefix-rock. It requires no patience, and has had the attention of diverse crowds of music lovers since long before the recent release of the band’s debut album, Strangers Please Take Care, which came out in September.
Four Mile Portage
11:30pm Fri 5/6
Teatro Zuccone
Brandy Forsman and Tom Maloney have been playing their old-time fiddle and banjo music for local dance associations since 2005. With Forsman on fiddle and Maloney on banjo, their bluegrass sound harkens back to days of Appalachian melodies. They are oftentimes joined by Kyle Ollah on banjo, guitar or fiddle. Forsman and Maloney joined Charlie Parr on his 2011 album Keep Your Hands on the Plow and recorded their own album, Can’t Find Home at Sacred Heart Music Center, released in 2015.
Frances & Luke
7pm Sun 5/1
Teatro Zuccone
Frances & Luke recently lost its drummer when Chad Erlemeier moved to Chicago, but that won’t stop this soul-heavy blues outfit from ripping up the Homegrown stage. Led by bigtime belter Stephanie Longstreet and her guitar-shredding husband Andrew Longstreet, Frances & Luke mix Hendrix & Aretha with Ike & Tina to make hard-hitting music that smokes like a Memphis rib joint. Bassist Mark Glen holds down the groove and whoever sits behind the drum kit will have to grow an extra arm to keep up with the action.
Gaelynn Lea
10:30pm Fri 5/6
Teatro Zuccone
Gaelynn Lea Tressler has donned the violin for 20-odd years as a student, teacher, performer and composer. She is trained in classical music, but more often takes the stage as an esoteric folk artist and ambient-sounding experimentalist. In November she released a mostly instrumental solo album, All the Roads that Lead Us Home, and in March it was announced she won NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest. This national video competition consisted of over 6,000 entrants, and her song “Someday We’ll Linger in the Sun” was voted top prize by the judges.
Gin Street
7:30pm Wed 5/4
Beaner’s Central
Rising from the ashes of Better than Dan, Gin Street was formed a little over two years ago and has become a battle-hardened member of the Twin Ports punk-rock scene. Featuring Gabe Naughton on vocals and guitars, Jake Wynn on guitar, keyboards and vocals, Cedar Corey-Flatau on bass and Luke Wynn on drums and vocals, Gin Street released their debut album Model Homes in February. The recording features a collection of highly original, heartfelt songs laced with big guitars, heavy drums and top-notch production. The group will sell limited-edition, hand-made cassettes of their new album at its performance.
Glen’s Neighbor
12:30am Sat 5/7
Tycoons Alehouse
If you were wondering, “Whatever became of the band Whiskey Tango?” fear not. After some fermentation, the band members reformed as Glen’s Neighbor and are returning to Homegrown for the first time under the new name. While it’s not entirely clear who Glen is, it is clear that this six-pack of Americana folk-rock is not lacking in talented musicianship. Guided by singer/guitarist Blake Shippee, band members Nate Weiler, Pat Byrne, Gary Kalligher, Chris Bruhn and Chris Urtel add in a fusion of banjo, slide guitar, and vocal harmonies that smoothly flows together. Their debut album, Behind the Door, was released in 2015.
Gold Star Junkies
11pm Tues 5/3
Dubh Linn Irish Pub
Two-and-a-half years ago, guitarist Sheila Wonders, bassist Blake Konrad and drummer Jim Hagstrom were just names in a box at an annual Duluth musical matchmaking night called the Rock and Roll Kamikaze. The three were randomly placed on stage together and discovered … a band. They called themselves the Gold Star Junkies. Adding Bob Bursell on lead guitar and Kris Carlson on percussion, the Gold Star Junkies play a jumble of rock, pop, folk and blues grounded in the same spirit of spontaneity and excitement of experimentation found every December in the Rock and Roll Kamikaze.
Steven Gold
9pm Mon 5/2
Sir Benedict’s Tavern
Steven Gold has been involved in the Duluth music scene since he was old enough to sneak out his parents’ house to see the Wormsley Common Gang play in the Alibi basement. “I grew up watching many people and many different music genres grow within this city,” he says. “I have a very deep respect for the art that is created around here.” Now Steven Gold is one of those artists. He creates a high-tech, hip-hop sound supported by a variety of local musicians and producers. Go ahead, crawl out the window for this one.
Good Colonels
9pm Fri 5/6
Rex Bar
When asked how to describe the Good Colonels sound, guitarist/vocalist Codie Leseman replied, “These days, I’d like to say space funk. But space is a very cold place.” Agreeably so, but then again so is Duluth. Joining Leseman in the trio, bassist Joe Conaway and drummer Curtis Mattson execute their duties in pushing out the band’s euphorically apocalyptic strain of post rock, reminiscent of Scandinavian psychedelia with undertones of punk. In addition to their musical contributions through a diverse array of projects over the years, the band’s members have organized a decade’s worth of Kurtfests in their hometown of Eveleth.
Todd Gremmels
7:30pm Tues 5/3
Amazing Grace
Todd Gremmels is a veteran musician. For four decades, he’s been entertaining Twin Ports audiences with his blend of eclectic music and performance art. You never quite know what to expect from Gremmels. Last year, his Homegrown show at Sir Benedict’s Tavern on the Lake featured a raucous surprise collaboration with what appeared to be some of the hippest kids from the local marching band. This year, Gremmels says he’ll play with, “Whoever wants to put up with me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Overuse of exclamation points aside, Gremmels’ enthusiasm is contagious. His shows could never be considered ordinary.
Group Too
8pm Tues 5/3
Bent Paddle Brewing
Bob and Carol Flatt have been performing as Group Too for 15 years, occasionally adding supplemental musicians as desired. The 2016 lineup features Bob sharing guitar duties with Al Heinonen, while Carol works the bass. This new arrangement provides a clearer acoustic sound and allows the vocals and the meaning of the songs to take center stage. While mostly a blues band, Group Too sprinkles in some folk country, playing originals from all three members.
Emily Haavik
6pm Fri 5/6
The Underground
Emily Haavik and her five-piece folk band were hard at work recording their first album with Jason Wussow at Beaner’s Central Coffeehouse over the winter. A long-time Duluth resident and recent transplant to St. Paul, Haavik hopes to keep a steady Duluth presence with the new album tentatively due out in June. Accompanying her vocal and piano stylings again this year will be Lisa Wentworth on harmonizing vocals, Bryan Wentworth on guitar, Beau Walsh on banjo and Luke Mirau on drums.
Wes Hadrich
10pm Thurs 5/5
Chester Creek Café Wine Bar
Weston Hadrich has been writing and performing music in the Duluth area since 2005. For a roughly five-year stretch he shared the stage with drummer and bassist Greg Tiburzi. Their songs were captured in the 2011 album Portland Rain and 2014’s Naturally Blue. Hadrich flies solo these days, with a monthly brunch show at Pizza Lucé and frequent happy hour performances at Sir Benedict’s Tavern on the Lake, where he also hosts an open mic on the second Tuesday of each month. “It’s a great way to see up-and-coming musicians and keep me on my own toes,” Hadrich says. “I try to write a song whenever I get the chance.”
Hannah Rey
11:45pm Fri 5/6
Dubh Linn Irish Pub
Born in Duluth and raised on the North Shore near Two Harbors, Hannah Rey Dunda has been doing the solo acoustic singer-songwriter thing for about six years. Her gigs feature a mix of popular and obscure covers peppered by original material about topics like lost love, insomnia and hating to take a shower. She also moonlights with the cover band South of Superior, frequently performing at Mr. D’s Bar & Grill and the Other Place.
Hard Feelings
8:45pm Mon 5/2
Barrel Room at Fitger’s
Indie-rock icons the Minutemen once sang “our band could be your life.” That meant playing basements, touring for measly per-diems in a rusty van, wearing the same secondhand T-shirt and jeans for days, and putting every spare dollar, ounce of sweat and decibel of volume into making D.I.Y. cassettes, seven-inch records and full-length albums. Since 2009, drummer Mike Wilson, guitarists/vocalists Seth Borovsky and Patrick Laney, and (more recently) bassist Jay Rahman have embodied this Maximum Rocknroll zine lifestyle in a way that would make D. Boon the proud patriarch of their punk rock cause.
Heaven’s Gate Away Team
11:30pm Sat 5/7
Pizza Lucé
The band Heaven’s Gate Away Team formed in July, almost 20 years after its namesake UFO religious Millenarian group evacuated Earth. Until the next spacecraft arrives, three Duluth musicians will keep the spirit of Marshall Applewhite alive. According to guitarist Jacob Swanson, the band’s worshipful, spacey, repetitive sound is “an attempt to raise our spirits to the next level and bring the glory of Heaven’s Gate to all who participate.” Swanson, along with Ian Vincent on drums, Rick McLean on bass and Dean Berlinerblau on synthesizer, will likely be joined by other musicians and noisemakers for their gig at Homegrown. Audience participation is encouraged, and there are rumors of free Kool-Aid.
The Holy Hootenanners
6pm Wed 5/4
Clyde Iron Works
Formed out of a small Lutheran church in Mahtowa, the Holy Hottenanners pride themselves on playing “energetic soul-filled, original and traditional country gospel music” that can be appreciated by all people — “religious or otherwise.” The 10-piece ensemble of guitarist-singer Colleen Myhre, mandolin player and vocalist Brooke Anderson, singers Erin Langhors and Donita Korpela, banjo player Lyric Lekander, dobro player Zach Langhorst, guitarist Doug Soukkala, bassist Jeff Gilbertson, keyboardist Caleb Anderson and drummer Luke Lekander released its sophomore album, It’s Time to Let Go, in August. All proceeds from their albums and shows go toward the building of a community center in the Mahtowa area.
The Horror
12am Fri 5/6
Rex Bar
These three wizards of weird have returned to electrify brain waves in the loudest way possible. While member of the Horror have seemingly been scattered across Minnesota and Wisconsin, the band would leave too big of a cosmic void to be absent from Homegrown. So it won’t be. Sharing vocal duties across the board, the three wizards are guitarist Joe Conaway, drummer Anders Lundahl and synth-scientist Billy Wagness. Together they shred out a potent offering of mathematic space-rock. Or is it spacey math-rock? Either way, it’s an intense brand of experimental music that pairs itself well with the band’s dynamic stage presence.
Horse & Rider
9:15 p.m. Mon 5/2
Red Herring Lounge
The punk band Horse & Rider has a history dating back to 1999, but a name change and numerous hiatuses complicate the story. The band released a new album, Call a Priest, in August. “Then C.J. broke his fucking hand and we went on hiatus again,” drummer Mat Milinkovich says of bassist C.J. Keller’s recent mishap. “We’re all better now,” Milinkovich reassures. “And ready to play shows and record some more.” Guitarists Matt Osterlund and Andy Pletcher complete the four piece.
Horse Girls
10pm Sun 5/1
Pizza Lucé
Three-fifths of the band Chase Down Blue team up with Brian Ring of Lion or Gazelle in this new garage-rock band. The group debuted in January, opening for David Dondero at Beaner’s Central. “It’s a box full of everything we can’t do in our main projects,” says Micah Tigner, who is joined by Chase Down Blue bandmates Lee Petersen and Sam Williams. “Horse Girls opens a new door of group songwriting. The freedom and pure mojo creates an amorphous sound that spans many genres and moods. The common thread holding it all together: Trash.”
Illyrik
11pm Sun 5/1
Pizza Lucé
Transplanted from Chicago to St. Paul and then up to Superior for college, Brandon Gordon seems like he’s gotten to know the upper Midwest — and its musical offerings — quite well. The aspiring rapper has already made quite a name for himself, having opened up for the likes of Krayzie Bone, Obie Trice and others. With production ranging in sound from hard-hitting hip hop to danceable rhythm and blues, his vocal delivery as Illyrik rolls off the tongue with purpose and poise.
#theindianheadband
8:15pm Sat 5/7
Amazing Grace
Dancehall, ska, jazz, funk, soul, folk and traditional Ojibwe are part of the musical stew cooked up by this extended family band from the Fond du Lac reservation. #theindianheadband features guitar and multi-instrumentalists Dave Ripley, Hunter Jaakola and Jackson Ripley; drummer Jeremy Gardner and singers Lyz Jaakola and Christa Drake. The group sings songs with environmentally friendly themes that Jaakola says are designed to remind listeners how everyone is related as we “spin out of human control on this big bad blue Mama Jama.” With a lineup of accomplished musicians, #theindianheadband has received airplay on the syndicated radio program Native America Calling and on WGZS, Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa radio.
Ingeborg von Agasiz
9pm Sat 5/7
R.T. Quinlan’s Saloon
Emma Rustan’s alter ego Ingeborg von Agasiz launched onto the Duluth music scene in July. She’s played over 20 shows, including opening for Twin Cities bands Gramma’s Boyfriend and Communist Daughter. Also a visual artist, Rustan hails from northwestern Minnesota, but has lived in Duluth’s Washington Studios Artist Cooperative for more than six years. She’ll take the stage solo, with Casio keyboard, powerful vocals and old-school electronic patches and beats.
Ire Wolves
9pm Sat 5/7
Rex Bar
The trio of guitarist Michael Trepanier, bassist Dustin Fennessey and drummer Tim Simmons formed in 2011, following the breakup of Simmons and Trepanier’s band Bury the Sun and Fennessey’s band Portraits for Judith. The first Ire Wolves release, 2014’s The Ascetic, is a concept album about the life of Siddhartha Gautama and his experiences before becoming the Buddha. The hardcore post-metal band is wrapping up work on its sophomore release Heirs.
Iron Range Outlaw Brigade
9:45pm Fri 5/6
Dubh Linn Irish Pub
In basements, dive bars and deer shacks, the Iron Range Outlaw Brigade has been playing everything from honky-tonk country to tear-in-your-beer heartache and live-fast die-fast barn-burning country-punk mayhem since 2008. The band released its third studio album in 2015, as well as a live album recorded at Yo’r Mudders Place in Gilbert. By the time Homegrown rolls around, a split seven-inch record with Monster Mob should also be available. The cow-punk four-piece is comprised of Kirk Kjenaas on guitar, Johnny “Blaze” Peterson on 10-string pedal steel, Freddy Hanson on bass and Glen Mattson on drums.
Bill & Kate Isles
11:30 Sat 5/7
Teatro Zuccone
Bill and Kate Isles may look like they have a simple formula — just two harmonizing vocals and an acoustic guitar — but the depth of their music betrays the straightforward approach. The subject matter of the lyrics often contains adventurous life experiences in the form of spiritual poetry. First-rate storytelling, professional musicianship and a decades-long commitment to stage performances make this duo one of the more audience-friendly local acts. They have multiple recordings available, national and regional tours scheduled, and plan to add guest musicians Derek Birkeland on mandolin and violin, and Sarah Birkeland on upright bass, for this year’s festival.
JamesG
9:30pm Fri 5/6
Legacy Glassworks
James Geisler writes, performs and records hip-hop music from his home studio. His sing-song style of rhyming may come off more like airy jazz than so-called gangsta rap, but his lyrics carry an intellectual edge not heard in these parts since early Crew Jones releases. Songs from his Soundcloud page like “Under Me” and “Keeping it Cool” are good examples of a young artist coming into his own while confidently wielding enough fun, smart and catchy parts to entertain both indie-hipsters and the hardcore beat boys. And if that isn’t impressive enough, he also volunteers his free time helping students at the Music Resource Center.
Jaw Knee Vee
9:45pm Sat 5/7
Spurs on First
Born in St. Paul and raised in White Bear Lake, Johnny Vichich is a one-man rock-and-roll trash party. He draws his influences from “dirt, dames, grease, roosters, pulled pork, duct tape, Harry Crews, skateboards and sideshows.” Three distorted albums have resulted from his recent years of bashing on instruments and garbage — 2012’s The Lo-Fi Rockabilly Blues Trash Boogie Woogie Stomp, 2013’s The Dog Gone Low Down Lonesome Good For Nothing Sorry Sounds of Jaw Knee Vee and 2014’s Stomp, Shout, Shake!. He lived in Duluth throughout 2014, but now resides in his native St. Paul, though he continues to land on the couches of Duluth friends for occasional weekend shows at local bars.
Jaze & Delgado
9:30 Sat 5/7
Legacy Glassworks
Jesse “Jaze” Unger and Derek Delgado have been staples of the local hip-hop scene since before their days in the band Kritical Kontact circa 2003 to 2013. Jaze has worked with pretty much every MC in town, helping them get their foot in the door, while Delgado has DJed for nearly all of said MCs. Jaze’s influences range from 2Pac and Nirvana to classic oldies. DJ Delgado spins primarily hip hop and electronic dance, but mixes in a broad spectrum of genres.
Kat
10:15pm Thurs 5/5
Superior Flame Nightclub
If Snow White were a battle-hardened downtown MC, she would spit fire like Kat and her birds would be the audience. But the audience wouldn’t do any chores. Instead they would tear up the dance floor and screech along with the hooks. Kat is Sir Ben’s and Red Herring booker Katherine Hansberry, who hosts bi-weekly hip-hop shows at the two clubs and organizes fundraisers a few times a year. When she’s not riding the bus with her phone speakers maxed out, she’s teaching music to young dwarfs who will someday put their own fairy tales to beats.
Kitschy Gloomy 9pm Sun 5/1
Pizza Lucé This gloomy four-piece rock band was formed by random chance — literally from names drawn in November to play the annual Rock and Roll Kamikaze show at the Red Herring. After a month of rehearsing and hanging out, Aimee Tischer, Brian Schaefer, Steve Karels and Steve Lueck played the Kamikaze show and decided it was worth taking a leap of musical faith and keep things going. They wrote songs during the cold and gloomy days of January, played a second gig in February at Beaner’s, and are now ready for the bright lights of Homegrown.
Kraig James & the Campfire Stars
10:45pm Wed 5/4
Gopher Lounge
Acoustic-stomp guitarist Kraig Erickson has amassed a body of artistic work that includes over 100 original songs (mostly completed) and innumerous musical ideas that probably came to him sitting around an open sky campout. To keep his outdoorsy vibe/muse going, he often brings a faux-bonfire firkin with him on stage. By the end of 2016, he will release a dozen of his best songs for a debut album appropriately titled Campfire Americana, Volume One. Joining him on stage for Homegrown (schedule permitting) are bassist Jeff Gilbertson, percussionist Shaun Waggoner, and banjo player Tony Peterson.
Kristy Marie and the Forget Me Nots
11:15pm Wed 5/4
Clyde Iron Works
Kristy Marie O’Neill has been writing folk songs for more than a decade and has been performing and recording her unique songs with a revolving cast of Forget Me Nots for almost as long. The group released a collection of soulful songs about hope in a changing world called Maiden America in December. “The music is better classified as passionate ethereal folk, with a story to tell and a conscientious consciousness to inspire,” says Kristy Marie. The Forget Me Nots are Bryce Kastning, Mike Schaefer and Abraham Curran, with a possible appearance by Jim Hall.
Lady Slipper
6pm Tues 5/3
Bent Paddle Brewing
Some dance troupes are at the mercy of whatever world music is found on random, scratched-up, third-generation mix CDs. Lady Slipper is not one of those troupes. Tribal belly dancers Denise Hooper, Deanna Erickson and guest performer Danielle Jimenez bring along their own group of real, live musicians. Guitarist John Hooper, accordionist Becca DeBoer and percussionist Eldon Lindamood provide the acoustic jams while creating synergy with the dancers. This relationship between the physical and the aural is not just improvisation; it is a conscious, living response to a virtual world controlled by too many digital mediums.
The Legendary Hell Puppies
10pm Tues 5/3
Dubh Linn Irish Pub
Mixing rockabilly, rhythm and blues, swing and good ol’ rock and roll, the Legendary Hell Puppies create a cocktail of hip-gyrating tunes to get the crowd groovin’ all night long. The pups are made up of Keith “Sugar Bear” Bower on tenor sax and vocals, Marty Hope and Steve “Gomez” Mahlberg delivering driving forces with their Gretsch guitars and also adding vocals, Mike “Rabzilla” Rabideaux laying down bass and Nathaniel “Belch” Belcher kicking it hard on drums.
Legitimit
12:15am Thurs 5/5
Superior Flame Nightclub
Lawrence LeTourneau has been bringing his positively charged hip-hop lyrics and music to the world for years, with over 200 shows under his belt as Legitimit. With his upbeat, socially conscious message he is on “a mission to elevate the consciousness of humanity through clever witty banter.” Previously a member of Kritical Kontact, Legitimit has five albums out with a new one projected to drop in April.
Lesser Planets
6:45 Sat 5/7
The Underground
Richie Townsend paired up with Hannah McDaniel in June 2014 to create this experimental instrumentalist project, resulting in what Townsend describes as a sound that matches “old-school guitar self-indulgence” with “post-rock heaviness.” Townsend and McDaniel both play electric guitar, with McDaniel also playing drums. The duo has at times been a trio; Townsend says they “go through bass players like Spinal Tap goes through drummers.” Using experimental and ambient sounds to engage the listener, they produce a kind of noise-rock that is radically different from their solo work. “We’d like for people to walk away feeling like they participated in creating our music,” Townsend says. “We also want their ears to be ringing so they’ll remember us.”
Lion or Gazelle
6pm Sat 5/7
Beaner’s Central
Brian Ring and Sophie Turks’ vocals beautifully blend and layer together to create a soothing, folk-pop arrangement that draws inspiration from old country harmonies and sounds. Ring’s soulful lyrics and acoustic guitar work are complemented by Matt Mobley on upright bass. The current lineup has been playing shows around the Twin Ports area for over three years, preceded by three more years of Ring playing with other musicians. Numerous recordings are available, including a full-length self-titled album released in June.
The Little Black Books
8pm Sat 5/7
Beaner’s Central
Mark Lindquist played the first unofficial Homegrown back in 1998, when it was just a birthday party and he was front man for Giljunko. By 2005, he was transitioning out of Giljunko and into a new band, the Little Black Books. The group featured a number of area artists, including Bob Olson, Mindy Johnson and Jim Hagstrom. LBB now is an acoustic/electric one-man show. Still hooked on the purity of analog recording, Lindquist will be pulling songs from The Little Black Book, a whiskey-soaked, ash-smeared pages-of-old to fresh-and-new tunes he’s been working on in his BaxTrax basement studio in Baxter. Chaperone Records released an LP of some of these recordings on vinyl in 2014 and another EP is expected in 2016.
Lord Montague
10pm Sat 5/7
Rex Bar Lord Montague plays loud, long, complex, heavy, slightly funky stoner-rock songs intended to say important stuff. The band’s 2015 release The Cave is a modern-day version of Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” that uses lyrics and music to tell the tale of a child who is “born into the world, and soon after is lured into the modern ‘cave’ by way of the television, the church and government propaganda.” After being fully brainwashed, the prisoner realizes that his “reality” is not reality. He escapes from the cave, running as far away as possible. Singer and guitarist Marcus Gruenstem, bassist Kyle Peters, and drummer Nate Fowler moved to Duluth from the Twin Cities and have performed a lot since then. “The scene here has been much nicer,” Gruenstem says.
Lorenzo’s Tractor
10:15pm Fri 5/6
Studio 15
Goth? Industrial? Experimental? Noise art? Shoegaze? It’s hard to define exactly what Lorenzo’s Tractor does musically, but whatever it is, Rob Fernquist has been dropping it for 25 years. These audio bombs usually include some version of Fernquist’s guitar-meets-static ideas along with the occasional stream of conscious vocals. Luke Olson, Harrison Crane, and Erik Fernquist often join the sound experiments with electrified string detonations of their own. Ben Brager was drafted into the madness recently enough that it’s not know what instrument he’ll end up playing. Fernquist has been putting out digital recordings since forever and the most recent pair, 2015’s All You Hear and the February release Blood is Cheap, have offered, dare to say it, a more structured blueprint into chaos.
Low
8pm Wed 5/4
Clyde Iron Works
Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker have spent the past 20 years fashioning their own roadmap to success. Ask most anyone playing Homegrown and you’ll hear success is defined by having people care about your art. Success is having a chance to play for an audience and feel a connection; to have someone look forward to your next show or album. Low may have achieved the kind of success that few will likely realize (world tours, record contracts, a Gap commercial) but at the end of the day their ambition is to make music that connects with an audience and they’ve been remarkably successful in doing so. Sparhawk and Parker released Ones and Sixes in September, their third album with bassist Steve Garrington.
Low Forms
11:15pm Sat 5/7
Barrel Room at Fitger’s
Burning craters in stages across the Midwest for over five years, the Low Forms claim to be “the best punk band in Duluth by a country mile.” Bassist Pete Biasi, drummer Dave Frankenfeld and guitarist Jeremy Ehlert make a lot of noise, but it’s high-energy, catchy noise. They have toured the Midwest and, according to Frankenfeld, the band is “huge in Wichita.” They have released two seven-inch records, a cassette, and performed a Daytrotter session in 2014.
Low-Hi Funk
11:15pm Thurs 5/5
The Main Club Chad Brown and producer Nick Pawlenty have pumped out a serious amount of underground rap music since forming Low-Hi Funk in 2014. In addition to a solid set of singles and an EP, they released the full-length Long Story Shore in August, which includes appearances from the eclectic Lake Monster Collective, established indie-rockers the People Say Fox, ska quartet Mikey Talented and rappers Willie Diction, Nonfic and Maaksha.
The Lowland Lakers
7pm Fri 5/6
The Underground
Although the members of the Lowland Lakers currently live in Minneapolis, they previously lived and played in Duluth. Guitar/banjo player Nate Case and guitar/violin player Haley Rydell met at UMD in 2004. Case met bassist player Matt Donoghue a few years later. Events in life took them in different directions for awhile, but the three ended up living in Minneapolis. Over strong coffee and turkey sandwiches, Case and Rydell decided to create a new band. They lured Donoghue in to create a three-piece folk outfit with strong harmonies and rich instrumentals. They plan to release their first full-length album, The Mississippi is Between Us Now at Homegrown.
Maintenance Free
7:30pm Thurs 5/5
The Spirit Room
Local troubadours David Aker and Mark Levings join forces as multi-instrumentalists in Maintenance Free. Both were raised in Superior and have collective decades writing and singing songs as solo artists in the region. Together they perform mostly original collaborations, with the occasional crowd-pleasing cover ranging from traditional songs to Dylan tunes. Trading off between acoustic guitar, mandolin and Irish bouzouki while sharing vocals, the duo also works in foot percussion. Aker supplements with harmonica and Levings sometimes takes up the djembe.
Israel Malachi
9pm Fri 5/6
Sacred Heart Music Center
Israel Malachi has been performing in Duluth for about a decade, best known for his work in the Tico Three from 2006 to 2014. He claims membership in two none-Duluth bands prior to that — the Atomic Mushroom Revolt in the late 1970s and Electric Neon Plastic in the early ’80s. His specialty is savage solo electric guitar playing, but this year he’s partnering with Tobin Dack on synthesizer, organ and electric piano to bring a show of “trance, downtempo, electronic dance music and other oddities, along with badass blues.”
Mama’s Stolen Horses
7pm Tues 5/3
Bent Paddle Brewing
Kristoffer and Abby Jo Robin have played their original Americana/folk music together for 10 years, the most recent four as Mama’s Stolen Horses. Both glass blowers and guitar pickers, the couple travels the country selling work and playing songs at art shows and festivals. The Minnesota natives recently returned to the Midwest, landing in Duluth in October. “We absolutely love it here and have been well received so far with our music and art,” said Abby Jo. It’s a good fit: Kristoffer Robin supplied Trampled by Turtles front man Dave Simonett with his first guitar lessons in their Mankato youth.
Man on the Moon
11pm Thurs 5/5
The Main Club
Brad “Art Farmer” Fernholz has played in Duluth bands since the mid 1990s, after he was kidnapped by Mark Lindquist and forced to play drums in the basement of the Shaky Ray Records studio. Now he writes his powerhouse rock songs on a hippie farm and brings the tunes to town to play as Man on the Moon. The group is a Fernholz family affair, featuring sister Diane Milinkovich on keys, her husband Mat Milinkovich on drums, bassist Brynn Sias and guitarist Tony Derrick. Call it the best indie-rock ever conceived in an organic tomato patch.
Markus J. Dandy & the Complete Lack Thereof
11:15pm Fri 5/6
Barrel Room at Fitger’s
To say that acoustic guitarist and vocalist Mark Blom and drummer Tyler Dubla play with a lot of energy would be a gross understatement. In other words, they tend to bring it; “it” being clever, fast and catchy folk songs played with a wry sense of humor. Though the lyrics sound like open invitations into Blom’s pumped-up persona, musically, the tempos can ebb and flow in whatever direction the mood calls for. More often than not, the mood calls for drollery, but inside the fun and games lies the focused artistry of a sensitive songwriter.
Marquis Mark & the Very Mysterious
12am Tues 5/3
Lake Avenue Restaurant & Bar
The acoustic power-trio of Mark Macham, Victoria Macham and Theresa Williams was formed in 2009. “We each have been with various bands in the area for the past 20 years or so,” says Williams. “We got to play our first Homegrown last year and loved the experience! We also like to go support our local band friends when they play.”
Marquis Mark & the Very Mysterious performances blend a mix of originals and standard folk classics.
Rich Mattson and the Northstars
12:30am Wed 5/4
Mr. D’s Bar & Grill
Rich Mattson has been involved in countless musical projects since the early 1990s. He’s best known in recent years for his work in a recording studio up in the sticks of northern Minnesota called Sparta Sound. The Northstars formed in the winter of 2014, when Mattson and folk singer Germaine Gemberling decided to expand their duo. Mattson’s nephew Curtis Mattson takes on the drums, while long-time friend Russell Bergum joins the rhythm on bass. Rounding out the sound is Eli Bissonette on violin. They play a straight-forward and folky American rock that goes well on a countryside ride or a walk in the woods. Their self-titled debut album was released in June.
Kaylee Matuszak
8pm Fri 5/6
The Underground Kaylee Matuszak picked up a guitar in November 2013 and taught herself to play. She has wasted no time since then, performing at open mics around the area and delving into the challenging realm of songwriting. The inspiration of acoustic and folk musicians like Brandi Carlile and the Indigo Girls is clear in her confident voice and songs that are completely belt-out-able. With the help of the Music Resource Center in Duluth, she recorded a studio album of original songs, Stirring Skies, released in March.
Rob May
9:45pm Thurs 5/5
Thirsty Pagan Brewing
Rob May is best known for his stints in the bands Giljunko and Cockfight. His term in Giljunko was brief, but brought forth one of the band’s signature songs, “Mohawks.” Cockfight performed here-and-there gigs over a 15-year span, including one Homegrown in 2014. For May’s first solo Homegrown performance he says he might sing and play guitar or play “an old synthesizer and drums with some other weirdoes unless they don’t show up.” His most recent gig was opening for the Bottle Jockeys at the Duluth Owls Club in December.
Rick McLean
11:15pm Wed 5/4
Kom-on-Inn Folk-punk musician Rick McLean calls his music “aggressive acoustic satire, occasionally played on an electric guitar.” He’s been writing songs for over a decade, and songs he says he’s proud of “for about eight years,” performing them live for about five years. His debut EP Coupla Focal was released in November, and the video for his song “St. James” was released in January. He started out and still plays solo-acoustic, but also works with a rhythm section to give the songs the energy and sound they have in his head. He’ll play guitar and sing during Homegrown, with Mike McLean on drums and probably Jacob Swanson on bass.
Medical Underground
10pm Fri 5/6
Sir Benedict’s Tavern
Medical Underground has a mission: “With MNsure on the fritz and Don Ness retiring to become a shadow hunter or a monk of some sort, it’s time for a band to bring the essence of rock ’n’ roll to the heart of the people of Duluth.” Sounds like a killer first verse too. When the Blasphemists were declared ineligible for the 2016 Homegrown, Steve Hamlin put down his drumsticks, picked up a guitar and headed for his other project, Medical Underground. Expect high-energy mischief with Nic Hanson on lead guitar, Darin Steenerson on bass and Jesse Sayler on drums.
Mind Control
7:45pm Mon 5/2
Barrel Room at Fitger’s
Mind Control is straightforward, hard-core punk for fans of Negative Approach, Infest and S.H.I.T. The group features Mike Wilson, Dean Berlinerblau, Nicolai Mickleson and Ben Lake, all of whom are heavily involved in the Twin Ports punk community, organizing the Northern Isolation music festival, the Twin Ports Underground zine and the “Loud Noise” show on KUMD radio. Their latest effort S/T was released in August with five of its seven songs clocking in at less than a minute. Did we mention Mind Control plays fast?
Minnesotabuick
8pm Fri 5/6
Beaner’s Central
Rhythm guitarist Daniel Lang and lead guitarist Joe Hauge are best friends who have been playing music together for more than 10 years. They started performing gigs one year ago at Carmody Irish Pub, where Bryan “Lefty” Johnson joined them on percussion. Influenced by bands like My Morning Jacket and Dave Mathews Band, they create all original work with a smooth melodic groove. The trio plans to record a debut EP this spring.
Mr. Kickass
9:30pm Fri 5/6
Red Herring Lounge
Mr. Kickass took a four-month break from performing last fall to install a new alcohol-fueled dragster engine in its punk rock machine. Now the veteran power trio is loud enough to blow the doors out of a three-car garage in Hermantown. Bass player and vocalist Mike Fradenburgh and guitarist Jed Olsen formed Mr. Kickass at the legendary Red Lion Bar in 2001. Brian Maruska took over the drumsticks earlier this year. The group hammered together a batch of new tunes during its hiatus and Fradenburgh reports all of them are loud, fast and kickass live.
Monster Mob
12am Thurs 5/5
Reef Bar
The band name Monster Mob is inspired by campy B-movies of the 1980s and intended to evoke “images of rubber creatures rampaging small towns, or blood-drenched slashers chasing teenage victims through the woods.” The punk-rock quartet is fronted by Cory Jezierski, with Mark Swanson on bass, Dan Holmi on drums and Garret Schroeder on guitar. Their full-length album American Grindhouse was released in November. Since then, they’ve put out a video for the single “Bloodfeast,” a split seven-inch record with Iron Range Outlaw Brigade, a Christmas single and a six-song cassette.
The Murder of Crows
6pm Fri 5/6
Beaner’s Central
Violinist Gaelynn Lea Tressler and the ubiquitous Alan Sparhawk formed the Murder of Crows in 2011, when the duo performed a live soundtrack to the Lon Chaney film The Penalty at Zinema 2. Sparhawk takes on the baritone guitar and provides a slow and winding foundation for Lea’s haunting and melodious violin. It’s good music to walk past a cemetery to, in black and white, while pondering existence. The band began recording in January for a new EP to follow up the 2012 release Imperfecta.
Paul Newberg
1pm Sun 5/8
Paul Newberg has been making music in Duluth for over 16 years, establishing himself in the bands Onehitter, Blameless Days and the What Four. For the past three years, Newberg has been exclusively solo, playing a mix of blues, folk and rock during recurring gigs at Thirsty Pagan Brewing, Foster’s Sports Bar & Grill and Carmody Irish Pub. He has released two albums, 2006’s Lifted Weight and 2014’s The What 4?
No Interest
8:15pm Fri 5/6
Studio 15
Hardcore punk fans will want to catch this act, assembled from an assortment of Duluth’s weirdo subversive music-scene movers and shakers. Dean Berlinerblau is on guitar, Tyler Wood is on drums, Greg Brown (not the 66-year-old folk musician Greg Brown) sings raspy and rough, and Antwan Brown holds it all together on bass. The four-piece has a driving sound that reverberates beyond basements and into bloodstreams. It’s music for fans of Destino Final, Glam and Una Bèstia Incontrolable — or anyone who even knows that those are real bands.
NonFic
10:30 Sat 5/7
Red Herring Lounge
As a youngster, Scott Vezina got into break dancing. Then, as a teenager, he got into Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Eric B. & Rakim and Big Daddy Kane. He took his love of hip hop, poetry, performing and writing and put it all together as a young adult. The result: NonFic — a Twin Ports rapper who is just getting this party started. His collaboration with Andrew DIFF, Night Movements, along with his long list of shows opening for national acts, has gained him an impressive and growing grassroots following. DJ Ben Jorgenson joins him on stage for 2016 Homegrown.
Nopamine
10pm Tues 5/3
Prøve Gallery
Taking its cue from the glorious skate-punk bands of the early 1990s, Nopamine plays thrash music at full throttle speeds with total F.U. attitude. Despite all the snotty wise-cracks and outlandish costumes, these guys do know how to carry a tune. Guitarists/vocalists Brooks Bonkoski and Dan Childs keep the basic punk chords and brash lyrics cohesive and sprinkled with pop-music sensibilities. Bassist Sage Snyder and drummer Brian Tekautz set the tempos, which is no easy task considering the energy needed for a 50-plus song set-list. Nopamine released the digital album Degenerate Scumfucks in August.
Norby
7:30pm Tues 5/3
Vikre Distillery
Matthew Norby came to Duluth in 1996 to play bass for the much storied Flux Skapacitor ska group. From there he eventually joined the even more storied surf/reggae band the Black Labels. Along the way it was not uncommon to see him on four-string duties for all sorts of musical projects covering just about every genre imaginable. These days he has put down the bass and picked up the sequencer employing his vast music knowledge for the electro-acid project Norby. The synth/sequencer dub drones indeed push the envelope and could nicely fit into any 1970’s cult-classic soundtrack.
Nordic Angst
8pm Fri 5/6
Sacred Heart Music Center
Vocalist, accordionist and seljefløyte (willow/sallow flute) player Arna Rennan heads up this quartet of Norwegian folk musicians. Her husband, Brian Dack, plays acoustic guitar and contributes vocals as well. Doug Greenwood doubles as an electric guitar and ukulele player, and Cathe O’Bey rounds out the foursome on the contrabass. The music of Nordic Angst consists of modern arrangements of traditional Norwegian folk. Some of it is instrumental, but much of it is sung in its native Norsk. The group has been playing Nordic folk for 18 years.
Northland’s Finest Horn Choir
5:30pm Mon 5/2
Red Herring Lounge
This choir really blows … the French horn. Members of Northland’s Finest Horn Choir — Deborah Rausch, Jim Pospisil, Emily Borra, Matt and Tara Renz, Vicki Wheeler and Anna Ramon — are all music professionals who play the French horn. They mostly get together to jam simply for their love of playing; their only gig prior to this year’s Homegrown was at Peace Church in June. Their set features a mix of classical and modern pieces.
Nur Jehan Chishti
7pm Fri 5/6
Beaner’s Central
Nur Jehan Chishti is one of two music projects led by Kristy Marie O’Neill; the other is Kristy Marie and the Forget Me Nots. O’Neill describes herself as a “Sufi, a mystical music devotee who uses music to journey between the earth and the stars.” She does contemporary renditions of ancient mantras from all around the world, and she has led chanting events around the Twin Ports for the past four years. O’Neill will be joined by Bryce Kastning, Ron Ayers and Amory Caetanya Bottorff.
Jeffrey James O’loughlin
10pm Sat 5/7
R.T. Quinlan’s Saloon
Jeffrey James O’loughlin has played a wide variety of venues around Duluth over the past decade. “I’m always out busking on the Lakewalk in the summer, which I really enjoy,” he says. O’loughlin plays mostly acoustic folk music, but kicks out a little bit of rock on the side. Sometimes he has people play along with him, but for the most part, he’s a solo act. He’s got a few albums on the shelves at Electric Fetus, and says he’s currently working on another.
The Old Smugglers
9:45pm Wed 5/4
Gopher Lounge
Superior native Erik Pearson is best known for his work as a painter, the most visible local examples being his murals in Superior’s Trade and Commerce Building and the back-alley doors of the Palace Bar and Who’s Bar. For many years his second identity was as the wild one-man band known as the Infamous Dr. Thunder. After moving to St. Paul, he met up with Josh Murray and the two connected over similar tastes in music, visual art, geography and libations. Of course, it turns out Murray had lived in Superior a handful of years. Armed with “ill-conceived notions of grandeur” they formed the Old Smugglers, a transient circus of junkyard shanty rock and “undeserved confidence.” In November they released their second album, Aleatorium.
Pale in Comparison
8pm Tues 5/3
Pale in Comparison
Self-described as “120 gigawatts of fuck you,” this young trio has an old-school punk ethos, with two members sporting mohawks. They churn out their loud, fast, pissed-off anthems regularly at Duluth underground hangouts the Raunch Complex, the Doghouse, and Studio 15. Guitarist/vocalist Matt Biggs and bassist/vocalist Kyle Lee co-founded the band in 2010; drummer Andrew Olson joined in 2012. Their angry punk attitude is tempered by corny between-song jokes and the fact that, if you listen closely, you might find that the lyrics to that one extra-loud song are about the bass player’s love for his neighbor’s cat.
Paper Parlor
7pm Thurs 5/5
Red Mug Coffeehouse
Paper Parlor has served up its blend of trippy folk and progressive blues to Twin Ports audiences for six years. The group has recorded two EPs and released its first full-length called Dreamscreen in 2015. Led by singer and guitarist Kirdan Wenger, drummer Chad Hoffland and bassist Wilson Johnson, Paper Parlor recently added singer/guitarist Moriah Skye and will need to find a new drummer as Hoffland spends 2016 teaching abroad. The changes give the band a new sound, but its mission remains the same: Making good music and a great party.
The People Say Fox
7:45pm Sat 5/7
The Underground
Indie rock band the People Say Fox formed in 2008 and has performed all over the country since then, opening for well-known acts like Cloud Cult and Motion City Soundtrack. Nathan Holte handles lead vocals and guitar, joined by Zac Roorda’s vocals and guitar, Michael Billig on bass and Rio Daugherty on drums. Together they create complex arrangements that are easy to listen and sing along to. The group has released two full-length albums — a self-titled release in 2009 and Glowcap in 2012 — as well as a seven-inch record titled The Roseman. Holte and Daugherty are also members of a new band, Play Date.
Perplex
8pm Mon 5/2
Sir Benedict’s Tavern
Hip-hop artist A.J. Miller has been writing, recording, producing and mixing music since 2002. He was born and raised in Duluth, but moved out of the area for a few years while in the United States Air Force. “Music is my therapy,” he says. “Without it I’d be a very unbalanced individual.” This summer he plans to release an album entitled Buck Naked that will also feature other local artists.
Phantom Tails
11pm Sat 5/7
Sir Benedict’s Tavern
When Logan Kerkhof moved from the Twin Cities to Duluth to open Lake Superior Bakehouse last year he brought along his synth-wave, deep-space, doom-funk band Phantom Tails. Led by Kerkhof on drum machine, the group features Orion Treon on voice and guitar, Sergio Hernandez on keyboards and voice, and Dave Dorman on bass. Phantom Tails earned “Best New Band” honors from City Pages in 2010 and it has brought its chaotic, 808 booty-bass sound across the nation, playing festivals, basements, art museums and even opening for the Flaming Lips.
Phillip of Nazareth
10:30pm Fri 5/6
Tycoons Alehouse
Mikayla Haynes’ cover art for the 2015 Phillip of Nazareth album Killing Machine features the aftermath of an apocalyptic war: dark skies, a mushroom cloud, a glowing river and someone buried alive. These guys aren’t shooting for the Taylor Swift crowd. Drummer Cory Coffman, guitarist Josh Mutchler and bassist Andrew Pletcher have performed together as Phillip of Nazareth for almost four years. The Duluth punk rock trio hits like a hydrogen bomb. They scream high-speed songs about war, destruction and change while wailing on their instruments until everyone feels the scorched earth under their feet.
Pizzaghost
9:30pm Wed 5/4
Beaner’s Central
Handing out a heavy potion of psychedelic, doomy sludge-punk, Pizzaghost is one of the latest offerings of loud music to the Twin Ports. Summoning the spirits of pizzas past, Jack Klander’s reverbed vocals echo through eardrums as he beats the living hell out of his keyboard. Backed by the beat of Matt Graven’s drum, Ben Jacobson burns fuzzed out bass riffs into the brains of spectators. Their debut self-titled EP made a big splash on KUMD’s The Basement, which in-turn grabbed the attention of CMJ. Show-goers should expect a chaotically entrancing live performance, which has been known to include pro-wrestling moves.
Planemo
7pm Sat 5/7
Beaner’s Central
Many have joked about how Jacob Swanson plays really sad music. But is it less sad when played with a full band? No. It’s still really sad. However, that shouldn’t distract from the craftsmanship behind the songwriting nor the musical contributions of drummer Zach Anderson and bassist Matt Donoghue. Planemo formed in 2011 and plays a melodic style of down-tempo indie rock. With their first official release still in the works, they’ve given audiences a taste of what could be expected with demos and live recordings. As they drift in and out of activity their set always returns feeling polished.
Play Date
12am Sun 5/1
Pizza Lucé
Veteran Duluth musicians Peter Knutson, Alex Piazza, Nathan Holte, Ned Netzel and Rio Daugherty formed Play Date in the sun and sand of Park Point last summer. The group has been holed up in biweekly rehearsals ever since polishing its “deliciously tasty” pop set list to perfection. Now its show time. The band played a few live tune-up gigs this past winter, all aiming toward Play Date’s Homegrown debut. “We are so excited to play Homegrown,” said Knutson. “We all keep the festival close to our hearts.” A three-song EP of original music is in the works, with an album to follow.
Portage
10pm Thurs 5/5
Reef Bar
These former UMD students recorded their haunting first album The Unsalted Sea in an attic in Duluth’s Endion neighborhood. Their critically acclaimed second album Landings was a bigger sounding and more professionally produced release that included the single “Far Gone,” which was featured in an episode of Amazon’s new hit streaming television series Betas. Though the band now resides in the Twin Cities, Trent Waterman, Dave Mehling, Jason Hildebrandt and Adam Rosenthal make rootsy indie rock with a big Duluth-inspired heart. A third record album is in the works.
Portrait of a Drowned Man
10pm Fri 5/6
Rex Bar
Portrait of a Drowned Man has been part of the Duluth music scene since 2003, when guitarists Paul Connolly and Justin Kervina set out to salvage some post-rock instrumental tunes from their previous project, Vermont Connection. The rest of the cast has changed a few times, with Ken Nyberg keeping the rhythm behind the drums for the past three years, Aaron Richner taking up guitar for a second stint with the band, and newest member Everett Groves handling bass duties. Together, they put out instrumental jams that transition from smooth melody into eventual chaos. The latest PoaDM release, Music From the Film Wicker Kittens, dropped in spring 2015.
The Potluck Communists
8pm Thurs 5/5
Red Mug Coffeehouse
If they taught ska in high school the Potluck Communists would ace the class. Students Nick Carlson-Becklund, Jake Vainio, Ian Erickson, Robert McGrady and Hans Arvidson-Hicks have been locked in the classroom with teachers like the Reel Big Fish, Bigger than Dan and the Suicide Machines for close to three years. The group features a spiral notebook filled with original songs, a horn section louder than a sophomore lunchroom and a backbeat as powerful as a 72-passenger bus. Forget the homework, the Potluck Communists put on an all-night dance party guaranteed to earn a two-week suspension.
Prince Paul and the Conscious Party
12am Tues 5/3
Dubh Linn Irish Pub
Reggae maestro “Prince” Paul Robinson has been bringing the sunshine, blue skies and warm ocean breezes of his native Jamaica to Twin Ports music venues for years. Leading his Conscious Party through extended jams loaded with heavy bass riffs, free-wheeling percussion workouts and lots of Rastafarian style, Prince Paul is an undeniable force of mellow, ice-melting fun. Dreds not required. The rock steady Conscious Party lineup includes Pat Powers and Joseph Hauge on guitars, Sven Berg on bass, Nathaniel Belcher on drums, Rob Jones on keyboards and Bryan “Lefty” Johnson on percussion.
Purple Hearse
10:15pm Sat 5/7
Barrel Room at Fitger’s
It’s hard to precisely classify Purple Hearse into a genre, but it wouldn’t be inaccurate to describe it as two buds playing really heavy rock and having a good time doing it. Former band mates in the Dames, Tony Bennett and Ian Prince debuted this project last year during Homegrown’s new band showcase and have had a bit of a hiatus since, save for one show last November. But it’s certainly worked as a vehicle for the two’s musical chemistry to reemerge, in an improvised fashion, with Prince back on his throne and Bennett belting out brutal bass riffs.
Red Mountain
9pm Wed 5/4
Clyde Iron Works
Red Mountain is an inventively endearing project that continues to impress audiences, both musically and visually. Acrobatics, confetti and fire have all shared the stage with the nine-member collective as they push the envelope of what can be expected from a local performance. The band’s long-awaited sophomore release is in the works, featuring brand new material — yet to be heard live — and a stronger emphasis on brass instruments. Led by ringmaster Anton Jimenez-Kloeckl, the cast consists of Grace Holden, Erin Tope, Charlotte Montgomery, Soren Dietzel, Jeremy Ehlert, Matt Mobley, Becca DeBoer and Cory Coffman. Try saying that five times fast.
Red Pine
1:30pm Sun 5/8
Canal Park Brewing
Red Pine is a folk music duo made up of singer/songwriter/guitarist Haley Lawson and bassist/multi-instrumentalist Logan Amys. Some might remember them from the Twin Ports bluegrass trio So Close that performed throughout the area from 2008 to 2012. As that band ended, Lawson and Amys continued to experiment with different instruments until finding their rainy-day sound. The classical nylon strings and jazz chord finger work of the guitar produce soft melodies while the bass adds a deep backdrop for the vocals to intertwine with. Mixed together they create consistently moody and pretty compositions.
Reflectivore
11pm Fri 5/6
Rex Bar
Ryan Rusch and Allen Cragin started writing music together in 2010, and performed their first Homegrown show in 2015. Rusch sings and plays piano while Cragin contributes vocals and guitar. Their live band features on bass, Thomas Anderson on drums and Matthew Cihaski on guitar. Cragin describes Reflectivore’s sound as “softy-loudy emotional type stuff.” The band released its self-titled debut album at the end of 2015. True Norse Films produced a video for the track “Red Looking Glass” in memory of Cragin’s wife Tiffany, who died of cancer in 2014.
Robot Rickshaw
6:30pm Mon 5/2
Red Herring Lounge
First law of robotics: A robot must not injure a human. Second law: A robot must obey orders given by humans. Third law: A robot must not ask for more bass drum in the monitor mix. Mad scientist Troy Rogers builds music “making” automatons. He’s been at it locally since 2014, gaining national notoriety and coining a new rock genre — droidcore. Is it really music if not made by a human? Is it the next step in artistic evolution? Could it ultimately save humanity from itself? Or will these machines transform into our eventual overlords? Who cares, it’s boogie time! Alan Sparhawk is expected to join in the jamming, along with the Tribal Alchemie belly dance troupe.
RoofTop Fable
10:15pm Wed 5/4
Kom-on-Inn
Rolling various styles of rock into one, RoofTop Fable has a timeless sound that pulls from assorted eras and influences without losing its modern edge. Having held down a monthly residency at R.T. Quinlan’s, the band has continued to build momentum. Its debut release, Chapter One, came out in November, showcasing five tracks that paint a bleak, yet optimistic portrait of the world. Lyrically lead by “Suzy Q” Anderson’s sultry vocals, Faye Baron lays down a beat to let bassist Dan Krause and guitarist Mikey Trifilette melodically dive into catchy harmonies.
Ruthe Kay and Bailey
8:15pm Fri 5/6
Amazing Grace
Ruthe Kay began entering music competitions at the age of 10. She quickly drew attention for her powerful-beyond-her-years voice and, through regular visits to open stages in the Twin Cities, has connected and performed with bands in Minnesota’s blues scene. Now a junior at Duluth East, she is taking a different direction with her new project, a duo with her friend and classmate Bailey Stender. It’s an acoustic act, featuring Kay on guitar. They describe themselves as “mischief and music makers” who play an eclectic mix of Kay’s originals and some pop and classic rock covers.
Seym0ur
8:30pm Fri 5/6
Legacy Glassworks
That’s not a typo. Ned Netzel renders his band name with a zero breaking up what would otherwise be “Seymour.” It’s fitting, because his strange house music never follows predictable patterns even though the drum machines are programmed to keep the beats tight. He tends to release minimalist synth sound experiments, but blends in the occasional tongue-in-cheek killer dance track. His most intriguing work though, like the single “Lumine II,” fuses together the chill-out grooves with the weird noise-art stuff, making dance floor patrons slightly confused in tingly good ways.
Maddy Siiter
9pm Sat 5/7
Sir Benedict’s Tavern
Born and raised in Duluth, Maddy Siiter has been performing her songs in and around the Twin Ports since she was 13. By age 15, she had already recorded her first album in Nashville. Now she has the wisdom of two more years under her belt. “Playing at 17,” she says, “is a whole lot different than playing at 15. I want to record here now, with the same talented folks I’ve been playing with.” This is her third Homegrown, and she hopes to bring a louder, faster sound than in previous years.
Silverback Colony
11:30pm Wed 5/4
Mr. D’s Bar & Grill The roster of this alt-country/rock band has continuously fluctuated since its formation in 2011, but always at the core are the beard-stroking Gabriel Douglas, equestrian six-string bandit Nate Case and the shipwrecked percussion of Kyle Keegan. Other musicians expected to unleash Silverback Colony’s holy hymns at Homegrown are guitarists Kent Paulsen, Nick Costa and Matty Brandes, bassist Alex Piazza, and vocalist Laura Sellner. Sounds Like Silverback Colony: A North Country Soundtrack was released in 2014.
Similar Dogs
8:30pm Tues 5/3
Amazing Grace
The duo of Joe Lindzius and Sarah Jane Hale play music they “dig,” which ranges from Stevie Nicks to Green Day, all grounded in the acoustic style. Similar Dogs regularly play shows at the Spirit Room and Thirsty Pagan Brewing in Superior. Lindzius and Hale are both members of the group Joe and Friends, another Thirsty Pagan regular. Their Homegrown show promises to provide a range of tunes for all ages with some “howlin’ coffeehouse sound” thrown in.
Sing! A Women’s Chorus
12pm Sun 5/8
Tycoons Alehouse
Sing! is a non-auditioned community chorus directed by Mags David. Offered through the Duluth Public Schools’ Community Education Program, the chorus has been honing its sound for 16 years. David selects, writes, arranges and teaches the music to the 30-plus singers. At this year’s Homegrown they will take their first stab at five-part harmonies and bring back some of their favorite West African songs.
Adam Sippola
8pm Sun 5/1
Teatro Zuccone
Though he’s classically trained vocally and on the cello, Adam Sippola’s solo music act is centered on experimentation with loop pedals, didgeridoos and world beat instruments. His fine-tuned singing and harmonizing background chorals keep the new-age aural concepts grounded enough to remain accessible to any listener. He also expertly uses a background in theater and as a street musician as coup de maître to professionally command the diverse stages he performs upon.
Jessica Skilar
12:15am Fri 5/6
Barrel Room at Fitger’s
Jessica Myshack was a fixture of Duluth’s music scene under her maiden name, both as a solo act and with groups Don’t Sweat September and Clyde Iron. A 2012 move to Minneapolis led to the singer, songwriter and guitarist to take a hiatus from music, but recently she’s assembled a new band that performs under her married name, Jessica Skilar. The players are drummer Michael Dyar, guitarists Jay Hooey and David LaTour, and bassist Roland Miezianko. Like Skilar’s previous projects, the new outfit has an Americana feel and showcases her songwriting and distinctive, quavering voice. The group has played several shows in 2016, including Skilar’s first Duluth gig in two years.
The Slamming Doors
12:30am Thurs 5/5
Vintage Italian Pizza
Combining different styles of jazz, bluegrass, rock and blues, the Slamming Doors offer an Americana jam-band sound unique to northern Minnesota. The band released its debut album Road Beneath the Wheel in 2014 and hit the studio in February to record the follow up, St. John’s Dance. Vocalist/guitarist Adam Herman is joined by Kelly Blau on six-string duties. Craig Skalko plays keys, Mike Randolph sits behind the pedal steel, and the rhythm section is made up of Ben Anderson on bass and Matt Johnson on drums.
The Smells
11:15pm Sat 5/7
Duluth Flame Nightclub
Tired of the same old “pulp pop on the radio,” the Smells claim they set out last year to “bring a little bit of credibility back to dance music.” The group combines elements of electronica, synth, rhythm and blues, and funk to create familiar but also futuristic sounding pop. Brian Wells plays the keyboard and sings, Peter Knutson is on guitar, and Rio Daugherty rounds the trio up on the drums. Though not a big-piece band, they deliver a sound that is part Talking Heads and part Gorillaz, with elements of newer indie pop mixed in.
The Social Animals
11:30pm Fri 5/6
Pizza Lucé
Paring “Dedric Clark and …” from its name is the latest evolution for this soulful indie folk/pop band that started out under the name Diet Folk. Cloquet native Clark still fronts the four-piece, which has survived equipment thefts, van breakdowns and two cross-country moves with a sense of humor and camaraderie intact. During a year spent in Portland, Ore., the group recorded an album, due out this summer, at Modest Mouse’s Ice Cream Party studios with producer Steve Berlin (Los Lobos, Deer Tick). Clark, guitarist and banjo player Tony Peterson, drummer Boyd Smith and bassist Roger Whittet recently relocated to Nashville, which they plan to use as a base for more relentless touring.
The Social Disaster
11:45pm Tues 5/3
The Sports Garden
Since the 2015 release of Dark Side of the Roller Rink, this collective of local talent moved beyond the trapping of “super group” shtick and matured into a professional workaday band with some good ol’ fashioned punk-rock sneer. Center stage gets consumed by the gritty vocal performances of Rachel Phoenix as guitarists Jesse Hoheisel and Jacob Swanson, along with Jake Larson’s moog, offer steamy bowls of neural distortion. Keeping this monster in check, drummer Ryan Nelson affords them the reigns to seamlessly go from clever, dark garage-rock to malt-shop/motorcycle pop without missing a beat.
Steve Sola 6:30pm Thurs 5/5
The Spirit Room
Having spent a decade in bands of varying shapes, sizes and sounds, Steve Sola embarked upon the mysterious path of becoming a one-man band about two years ago. Plagued by a lasting obsession with both the roots of American music and some of the mossier offspring of said roots, and accompanying himself with a stripped down percussion kit, harmonica and either six- or five-stringed instrument — or occasionally a keyboard — he plays an eclectic mix of garage folk, grungy blues and rickety rock ’n’ roll.
Songs of Shipwreck
9pm Thurs 5/5
The Main Club
Songs of Shipwreck has been playing its brand of punk-infused rock for almost three years now. Driving guitar and rock-solid rhythms set the pace, while piano and organ melodies provide nuances of early 1990’s anthem rock à la Journey and Europe. Sean Mahoney, guitarist and vocalist, is accompanied by Kent Paulsen on guitar and vocals, Steve Karels on bass, Dave Clark on drums and Matt Sjelin on keyboard and vocals. While they don’t shy away from breaking into Green Day, Gordon Lightfoot or Dr. Dre covers, the primary focus is on playing originals from their debut album, Fortune Favors the Brave, which was released in September. A follow-up album is already in the works.
Space Carpet
10:45pm Tues 5/3
The Sports Garden
In 2015, Space Carpet won the right to collaborate with the biggest band in town: the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra. A November “Bridge Sessions” contest win allowed singer/guitarist Rory Isakson, singer/ukulele player Jen West, lead guitarist Steve Isakson, bass player Ken Thiemann and drummer Tyler Dubla to bring their big psych-rock sound and creative, boundary pushing folk music to the DSSO stage for a night of sonic adventure. And that’s what Space Carpet has been doing for the last three years: exploring the dark corners and extreme edges of music whenever they have the chance.
Spin Collective
8:45pm Sat 5/7
Minnesota Power Plaza
While in Costa Rica in 2003, Jillian Forte learned the art of fire spinning and returned to Duluth to practice and teach her own brand of pyro performance to others. In 2008 her troupe became known as the Spin Collective. A few spinners have come and gone over the years, with the current lineup featuring Jayme Hudson, Denise Hooper, Matt Lindberg, Briana Sterle, Aleasha Hladilek, Shauna Heckman Schanzenbach and Sherry Christiansen. They captivate crowds with flaming poi, hula hoops, fans and staffs at performances throughout the Twin Ports. This year promises more fiery apparatus in the form of welded metal art, headdresses, fire bowls and more.
Starling of Athens
6:15pm Fri 5/6
Amazing Grace
“Have you heard the good news?” Toby Thomas Churchill asks. “He is prison.” That’s a wacky Matthew 28:6 pun. The Biblical barbs are thick in the “atheistic inspirations” Churchill has been composing for a little over two years as Starling of Athens. Two singles, “Vaginas” and “The Lord is Not My Real Dad,” were released early in 2014, and more digital releases are expected to follow soon. “I want to try to take this project to the people a little more in the coming year and spread the Good Word,” Churchill says. Are his fans disciples? “As long as they remain freethinkers they can call themselves whatever they want.”
Stel
9pm Thurs 5/5
Chester Creek Café Wine Bar
For years folkies Brian Stelmaszewski and Larry Sandmann played throughout the Twin Ports, opening for the likes of Hank Williams II and producing a handful of albums, including Catch a Dream, their final effort before Sandmann suffered a stroke in 2012. Stelmaszewski has been performing as Stel ever since, either solo or with various musician friends, offering up everything from Dylan covers to original material executed with thoughtfulness and ease. He is hoping to get into his home studio soon to record new material.
Strictly Hammers
7:30pm Fri 5/6
Legacy Glassworks “Our style,” producer Nick “MidiEvil” Pawlenty says about the music he and rapper Matt “Crimson” Ihle make as Strictly Hammers, “is very underground, with lots of story telling and brutal honesty that can be sharp around the edges but also very uplifting and creative.” In nearly 10 years performing together, the duo has released seven of its own records — three are remixes of local bands’ songs — and opened for DJ Abilities, Mike Mictlan and Heiruspecs. They plan to record and release a new record later this year.
Superior Siren
10:45pm Sat 5/7
Spurs on First
Since her solo debut in 2012, singer-songwriter Laura Sellner has steadily gained an audience for her haunting folk melodies and evocative lyrics. In 2015 the Duluth native brought cellist Rachel Gobin and drummer Emma Deaner on board to enhance her singular voice. With the recent addition of bassist Nyssa Krause, the band has shaped its music with a thoughtful and minimalistic approach. Inspired by personal experiences, Sellner’s songs impart authenticity and tenderness. She recently completed the music and lyrics for a new album which the band plans to record soon.
The Surfactants
12am Thurs 5/5
The Main Club
From 2007 to 2013 this dark, new-wave electro-rock band combined “a love for old-school metal with lethal saw-tooth waves” to shove “a boot into the teeth of unsuspecting audiences.” Now the six-piece’s dueling guitars, stuttering beats, screaming synths and pounding bass are set to return to Homegrown for a reunion show. Founding member Zac Bentz says the set will include some new material mixed in with favorites from the band’s albums Our Dead Bodies and Diminshing Returns. Bentz drums and programs, Greg Couger Conley and Brett Molitor rip out guitar riffs, Eric Anderson holds things together on bass, Steph Bentz scratches the keyboards and Marcus Matthews is in charge of vocals and physical antics.
Tallulah
2:30pm Sun 5/8
Canal Park Brewing
Tallulah has devoted countless hours in a basement laboratory tinkering, tweaking and mixing a scientific blend of American indie rock with British dream pop. Formed in 2014, the group has discovered a wonderful musical formula that’s both complex and simple, fast and fresh and highly entertaining. Led by front-man vocalist Aaron Boothe, Tallulah features bassist Bryan Wentworth and twin drummers Mike Stanton and Luke Mirau. Nothing says eclectic, experimental and alternative better than twin drums. Safety goggles, lab coat and Latex gloves not required.
Tenants
8:30pm Wed 5/4
Beaner’s Central
Formed during the summer of 2014, in the basement of the now-former punk-party house known as the Happy Hole, this four-piece has acted as the gas and spark for the current renaissance of Duluth/Superior’s underground punk scene. Actively booking shows and branching out through various mediums, the band’s members have helped put Duluth back on the map for bands touring in the DIY tradition. Consisting of Jesse White, Dean Berlinerblau, and brothers Antwan and Greg Brown, Tenants play a catchy, yet moshable, style of punk that vents through life’s frustrations. They put out a six-track demo tape in early 2015.
This is Now
6:30pm Wed 5/4
Beaner’s Central
For six years strong This is Now has been blasting out unapologetic, aggressive, hardcore metal songs about such topics as vengeance, blood and smoking a fat one. The raging rhythms are pure therapy for drummer Dan Holmi, guitarists Jeremy Malecki and Garett Schroeder, bassist Jesse Johnson and roaring vocalist Richie Redbeard. The title of the band’s 2013 album might as well be its motto: Go Down Swinging. Rest assured, lyrical punches will not be pulled.
Greg Tiburzi 11pm Fri 5/6
Sir Benedict’s Tavern Inspired by pop radio, the American songbook, folk and world music, Chuck Berry and just about everything else, Greg Tiburzi plays acoustic shows in Duluth about three night a week. At coffee shops, restaurants, bars, fundraisers and house parties he blends guitar and harmonica to back his compositions about loss, redemption and the fragility of the human condition . His most recent album is 2015’s Our Time in the Sun. He’ll be joined during Homegrown by guitarist Bryan Gatten, a New York City native who moved to Minnesota three years ago.
Timothy Martin & the New Norm
9pm Mon 5/2
Rex Bar
Tim Nelson is pretty much Homegrown Music Festival royalty. He played guitar for Gild and the First Ladies at the first Homegrown in 1999. He also co-owned the event itself in 2005 and has offered up his business ventures throughout the years for festival venues and meeting places. But an artist at heart, his deepest contributions have been as musician and vocalist. His most current project is a full blown dance-infused psychedelic rock five-piece featuring Peter Knutson on guitar, Russ Sackett on bass, Brian Wells on keys, and Rio Dougherty on drums.
Tin Can Gin
11:45pm Sat 5/7
Spurs on First
Five-piece string band Tin Can Gin wrote and released its second album Coming Home in 2015. The album was recorded after the group spent months on the road honing its unique bluegrass sound at barrooms and music festivals across the Midwest. Band members Bryan Nelson on mandolin, Kori Quillo on fiddle, Trevor Marrin on guitar, Isaac Sammis on banjo, and Neil Krause on bass, use their diverse musical background in jazz, folk, rock, classical, even punk, to create what they call a “North Shore sound.” That’s the sound of fiddle-fast barnburners, sinking sea ballads and a liquor store full of drinking songs.
The Tisdales
10:30 Sat 5/7
Pizza Lucé From 2008 to 2014 the Tisdales released three albums — Baker’s Dozen, Out with the New and Supercaldera — played a bazillion gigs and generally brought as much old-school rock as any two-bit Minnesota barroom could handle. They took a break in 2015 and returned in February to rip up R.T. Quinlan’s like they’d never left. Rich Mattson and Tony Derrick head up the band on guitar and vocals, with bassist Jason Kokal and drummer Derek Rolando rounding out the rhythm. Quoth Rolando: “I guess if you put the Flamin’ Groovies in a bowl with Neil Young and the Replacements and smoked it up, your hallucinations would sound a lot like the pounding rock psychedelia the Tisdales like to dish out.”
Tomoko
10:15 Sat 5/7
Duluth Flame Nightclub
Tobin Dack has released more than a dozen psychedelic electronic albums under the moniker of T. Dack. Now he goes by the alias Tomoko. The reason for the change remains as mysterious as the music he makes. Using real, live hands-on hardware that includes sequencers and modular synthesizers, Dack creates ambient noise journeys that purposely avoid computer audio software. When not opening for groups like My Life with the Thrill Kill Cult or dropping beats at UMD functions, he’s also helped organize the popular Umbrella Cloud music festival.
The Trash Cats
9:30pm Wed 5/4
Mr. D’s Bar & Gill
The Trash Cats are two singers, one piano and one guitar. That’s all it takes. Both guitarist Sean Mahoney and keyboard player Matt Sjelin perform in the Duluth band Songs of Shipwreck but the Trash Cats give them another outlet. “Sometimes one musical project isn’t enough to scratch every musical itch,” says Mahoney. “While playing rock music is intensely gratifying, sometimes you just want to strip it down and bare your soul. Slowing things down and leaving space between notes are the cornerstones of this project.” Classify the Trash Cats as “folksy acoustic jazz pop.”
The True Malarkey
8:30 Fri 5/6
Red Herring Lounge
Mark Blom of Markus J. Dandy and the Complete Lack Thereof takes up the drums in this new three-piece punk outfit, sharing vocal duties with guitar player Chris True. Bassist Jesse Gangi joins them in the quest to play fast, energetic, original music. They recorded two demo songs in November — “Presidential” and “Spare Change” — and have played a couple of gigs with fellow punks Monster Mob.
Fred Tyson
10pm Fri 5/6
R.T. Quinlan’s Saloon
Twin Ports audiences have come to know what to expect at a Fred Tyson show: half-naked females thrusting about like drunken synchronized swimmers, hordes of snake-eyed downtowners on the verge of rioting, a ground cover of empty cans and broken bottles, inappropriate comments and even more inappropriate Nubian-style funk dancing. And that’s just the party in the parking lot before the show. Tyson’s soulful vocals and colorful costumes are backed by a mish-mash of rhythm-and-blues musicians and red hot go-go dancers orchestrated by longtime collaborator, guitarist and bassist Ben Marsen.
Ryan Van Slooten
10pm Thurs 5/5
The Main Club
Ryan Van Slooten released his first solo album six years ago, but has been a part of the local music scene for more than 15 years. His music brings together a blend of acoustic power-pop and alternative rock, with catchy hooks, chiming guitars, lush arrangements and heart-on-sleeve lyrics. He is at work on his fourth studio album, the follow up to 2013’s Victory March, with a band made up of Jacob Jonker on guitar, Tom Berrigan on bass, Mat Milinkovich on drums and Erin Aldridge on violin.
Venus de Mars
7:15pm Fri 5/6
Amazing Grace
If a movie pitch was ever made about a transgender, Midwest glam rocker standing up for working-class artists’ rights against Big Government … well, that screenplay would sound too damn strange even for Hollywood. But for Duluth native Venus de Mars, truth is stranger than fiction. With her very public 18-month battle versus a galling Department of Revenue witch-hunt finally over, she’s risen from the ashes victorious, touring in support for Against Me!, releasing a new album called Flesh and Wire, and educating countless crowds of rock fans on tolerance, acceptance and the fine print of tax-law flippancy.
The Virgil Caine Band
11:30pm Sat 5/7
Tycoons Alehouse
Born and raised in Duluth, Tom Wotruba and Dave “Big Daddy” Prudhomme have lived here all their lives, and Keith Fredrickson and Mark Howley have been playing here for decades. The band starts with Wotruba’s Texas-style blues guitar, Prudhomme’s sturdy base tones, and Fredrickson’s rock-solid drum rhythms. Top that off with Howley’s lead vocals and Chicago blues-influenced harp, and you’ve got a sound that grew up here. The band’s latest album was recorded with Eric Swanson at Sacred Heart Studios.
Vivielle
8:45pm Sat 5/7
The Underground This alt-rock band features an indie sound that combines Nathan Harvie’s guitar and vocals with Rosalie Uggla’s close, natural harmonies. They’re backed by brothers Lino Rauzi on bass and Joe Rauzi on drums. After three years as a band, Vivielle has developed a loyal fan base. They were raised here, and say that Duluth’s music scene is the reason they exist. In August the band released its first full-length album, Something that Isn’t There. With the addition of Grace Holden from Red Mountain on trumpet, Vivielle now offers an appreciably expanded sound.
The Weeks Avenue Band
6:30pm Tues 5/3
Amazing Grace
College is a place to experiment, right? The four members of the Weeks Avenue Band all attend the University of Wisconsin-Superior where they’re active in the school’s University Jazz Ensemble. However, this is no traditional jazz quartet. Drummer Cody Thoreson and bassist Logan Amys pair with brass merchant Will Collins and guitarist Nick Muska to create a unique blend that highlights each member’s nuanced musical taste. Sprinkle in some Hendrix and Zeppelin along with Miles Davis and all of a sudden there’s a funk-and-roll band speaking the language of blues and bebop.
Willie Diction
10pm Mon 5/2
Sir Benedict’s Tavern Emcee, writer, freestyler and showman William Winklesky says he blends “life experiences with hip-hop sounds in a style that’s “performance-based, practiced and refined” through a decade of basement cyphers and bar shows. “I have songs where I’m meticulous with words,” he says, “and others where I blend pop culture with perspective.” He and producer Nick Pawlenty are working on a record called Saturday Morning Cartoons, which combines anime and rap.
A Winter Downpour
10pm Sat 5/7
Sir Benedict’s Tavern Whether you define it as gloom rock, shoegaze or sad bastard, A Winter Downpour stays true to its sound by playing melancholy and reflective music. Frontman Alberto Serrano Rivera writes the skeletons of songs, then collaborates with guitarist Paul Connolly, bassist Kevin Zak, and drummer Ken Nyberg to hang some meat on those bones. “Our songwriting is communal, and we all look at each other for suggestions and input,” Serrano Rivera says. In 2012 the members released an album titled Vandrovec, What are You Waiting For? They hope to soon lay down eight tracks with Brian Ring of Lion or Gazelle and release an album this year.
Woodblind
7:30pm Sun 5/1
Tycoons Alehouse
Anyone who thinks ska is dead need look no further than the acoustic duo of Jason Wussow and Veikko Lepisto to see it alive and well. With an evident absence of the horn sections and checker-patterned neckties the genre procured in the 1990s, Woodblind takes a deeper nostalgic approach to the up-beat rhythms; think more Desmond Dekker and less Operation Ivy. Both musicians hold down impressive musical resumes, and their set of classics and originals gives off a big voice, especially for the band’s size. Paired with Wussow’s whistles and guitar, Lepisto walks along his upright bass in cheerful synchronicity.
World Beat
7pm Fri 5/6
Sacred Heart Music Center
Myers-Wilkins Elementary School organizes an after-school, African-based drum circle group made up of 23 students from grades 4 and 5. Since its creation at Nettleton Elementary 15 years ago, World Beat has used authentic dress, percussion instruments, and rhythms to perform original, global-style compositions regionally and throughout the state. Recent gigs include school functions, community fundraisers and Duluth Mayor Emily Larson’s inauguration. Directors of the program include Teri Akervik, Michelle Bowker and Adam Metzer.
2016 Homegrown Kickball Classic
Saturday, May 7 | High Noon
Chester Bowl Park, 1800 E. Skyline Parkway
2015 Homegrown Kickball Classic Revisited
By Graham Hakala
After sloppy conditions forced the two previous games to Observation Hill, the 2015 Homegrown Kickball Classic made a triumphant return to its rightful venue at Chester Bowl Park.
It was a fantastic day for kickball, and the only thing hotter than the midday sun were the verbal zingers lobbed by Friday Rawkers pitcher Chad Lyons in between plays. There was nothing the Saturday Rollers could do to get players across home plate as the Rawkers shut them out by a score of 2-0.
The Rawkers were a bit outnumbered by the Rollers, with the teams rostering 31 and 25 players, respectively. Musicians more or less covered every inch of green in the outfield. Most pop flies and line drives were doomed for an easy out, but that didn’t stop anyone from swinging for the nonexistent fences.
With the crowd of musically inclined athletes jamming the infield and most of the outfield, the first several innings were a series of fairly easy catches and a few lucky tags. The arguing on the field was constant. In the top of the fourth inning, Friday at the plate with one out, there was some confusion about whether or not a double play had occurred at second. Saturday coach Paul Lundgren was able to convince the much put upon official, Rick Boo, into ruling in his team’s favor.
In the bottom of the fourth, Brian Wells kicked five or six foul balls into the crowd. After taking a razzing over his Bill Cosby sweater, Wells finally directed a ball into the field, only to be caught by Ryan Nelson at first base. Several plays later a line drive nearly took Scott Millis’ head off, but was caught by Cory Coffman with a knee-scrapping slide to end the inning.
Coffman reached on an error in the top of the fifth and advanced on a bunt single by Kyle MacLean. Millis drilled a shot to the left side of the infield that was nearly caught. Umpire Boo ruled the ball had been trapped, resulting in the first run of the game and giving the Rawkers a 1-0 lead.
The Rollers were looking to answer in the sixth inning when Mark Glen fired a shot down the line toward first. As he sprinted with full force he was aggressively tagged out before reaching the base and driven face down into the dirt. A few plays later, a line drive from Paul Whyte was turned into a double play, ending the inning.
It was around this time when a mysterious heckler began berating both teams from behind the backstop, deploying a sustained barrage of incoherent screaming. At one point, she jumped into a wresting match between Jake Paulsrud and Jacob Swanson before going back behind the fence to continue the shouting. A minor altercation turned to violence as she wielded a glass bottle and swung at those trying to stop her. There were no injuries in the incident and she left the field as the crowd applauded her departure.
A pop-up to center field in the top of the seventh led to several errors on Saturday’s part, which gave Jon Choi the opening he needed to make a break for home. With a bloody, bandaged-up leg from an earlier injury, Choi scored to put Friday up 2-0.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Rollers finally managed to get a runner to third base. Hopes were quickly dashed on the potential run-scoring kick when Bill Flannagan came rushing out of nowhere, literally left field, to catch the ball and make it three outs. The play earned Flannagan the prestigious title of MVP.
The rest of the game remained scoreless, with mostly easy outs.
Friday Coach Heiko Edwardson, celebrating his 40th birthday, explained his team’s strategy as “getting out there and scoring more points than the other team.” A simple, yet effective approach to both kickball and life. Happy birthday, Heiko.
The Blaine Technical College Institute of Lyricalology Writing
by Mark Lindquist
Want the skills to work as a professional songwriter? Do you like the idea of financial independenceness? Look no further than the Blaine Technical College Institute of Lyricalology Writing. Our diplomas are guaranteed to connect students to a career in music, mostly.
Potentializing Your Music in Three Easy Semesters
From composing the words heard in radio jingles to filing lawsuits against former band mates who tried to stop you from transcribing their songs into radio jingles, and everything in between, we give you the skills to potentialize your musical poetry into financial independenceness.
Take the first step by applying online for exclusive student bridge loans. Then simply sign up for non-accredited classes our brochures claim to offer and begin purchasing the required textbooks we make available only to approved applicants. Get a degree in lyricalology in just three semesters.
Semester One: Copyright Law
The introductory part of any songwriting education is learning how to protect a work’s originality, and more importantly, learning how to properly file papers against those who did in fact usurp a legally trademarked composition without express written consent, and, in doing so, violated state law and therefore should pay a fair and timely monetary compensation in return.
Not only do our experienced instructors put students first, they, coincidentally, also can be retained as legal representation to fight for what’s rightfully yours.
Semester Two: Song Topics
Next, choose from classes that offer special prices on our very own textbooks regarding song topics. Popular courses include:
Baby Love 101: An Introduction
Who Do You Love: Ethics and Economy
That Loving Feeling: A History of Those Who’ve Lost It
Higher Love: A Theological Discourse
All Out of Love: Solutions for Writers’ Block
Making Love 301: Draft and Design Seminar
Modern Love: Neo Classical Descriptions
And, as featured in the Directory of Copyright Law Professionals in Minnesota: Whole Lotta Love: How and When to Sue a Family Member.
Semester Three: Words that Rhyme
Linguists from around the globe of metropolitan Minneapolis have worked at length in our specialized speech labs perfecting formulas developing words that rhyme or come pretty close to rhyming. These somewhat affordable lessons will finalize your lyrical potentialality by revealing word combination methods that professional songwriters use.
Just read this testimonial from an actual student who has attained financial independenceness (settlement pending):
Hi, I’m Debbie from Burnsville! And I’m a songwriter! And I’ve reached financial independenceness by writing lyrics and suing other people with similar sounding lyrics. I wouldn’t be where I am today without Blaine Institute! If I can do it, so can you! By simply taking out a series of student bridge loans, I learned everything I need to know about rhyming words like “love” and “kiss” with other words like “glove” and “bliss.” And how to copyright those combinations with documents that many Minnesota State Courts recognize as legal.
What more do you need? Apply for your student bridge loan today. No credit check required!
