Ryan Howze may be known to many as Arehouse. The first time meeting him I was grooving on the floor of Soundlab (R.I.P.) during the late, but beloved, Communist Parties. But when he is not mixing tracks for a dancing crowd, Howze has been participating in open mic nights. In and out of bands for 10 years or so, he said that while attending open mics there was always one or two things that did not vibe with him.

So he took it into his own hands.

Since September, Howze has been holding open mic events on Tuesdays at the west side coveted, clairvoyant inspired Gypsy Parlor. He wanted to establish an environment for musicians to not only feel comfortable on stage, but to also be heard by an attentive audience.

Taking it a step further, tonight, he will present the first of a monthly acoustic showcase series.

"I felt like acoustic acts get really slept on in Buffalo … If you're not a full band, people kind of disregard you, and lead you to just open mics," Howze said. "I wanted to make a monthly event that would showcase four or five different acoustic acts."

The folks showcased during tonight's event have been regulars at the open mic sessions.


Ben Uytiepo, of Darling Harbor, will perform. Reminiscent of a more upbeat version of Iron & Wine, according to Howze, Uytiepo's vocals are sweet sounding, and listeners should expect classic acoustic indie sound, circa early-2000s.


Soulful croons will come from singer/songwriter Ryan Bzibziak. "Ryan is the white Keith Sweat," Howze said without hesitation. Along with original pieces, covers of bands such as The Kooks, Death Cab for Cutie and The Avett Brothers can be heard on Bzibziak's YouTube account.


Guitarist and vocalist for local band the Sleepy Hahas, Pat Butler, with the accompaniment of a pianist, will perform acoustic versions of the group's songs, in addition to some unreleased tunes.


Cat People, comprised by Nathan Wolcott and Tommy McCraith, mysteriously cannot be found anywhere in the Internet realm. Their sound is "if you smashed '90s kind of grunge that meets acoustic folk," Howze said.


Howze will also perform.

Just yesterday, Buffalo garage rock foursome, Sleepy Hahas, debuted the music video for their heavy new single "I Hate My Body (and It Hates Me Too)," taken from the band's forthcoming LP, Dull Days. The trippy clip, directed by Shawn Lewis aka Lesionread, would be a perfect way to spend a few mins during an upcoming LSD trip. The band will be celebrating the release of Dull Days on Friday, May 16th at Buffalo Iron Works. Full show details can be found here. Watch the video for "I Hate My Body (and It Hates Me Too)" below.

In 2008, after nearly 15 years as one of Buffalo's premier music venues, the Showplace Theater (1065 Grant St.) closed its doors. The iconic venue hosted many legendary performances over the years from nationals like the Cramps and the Damned to popular local groups like the Imports and the Budgets. As a little kid, it was always my dream to play the Showplace, and as I got older, I was privileged enough to make that dream a reality several times over. When the closing was announced (the place was practically falling apart) the music community was in shambles; tears were shed, memories were recounted, and a silent fear echoed throughout the scene...what now?

Not long ago the old Showplace was purchased, and since that time renovations have been under way to clean the place up and restore it to its former glory. Anyone who remembers those bathrooms will know that this is no easy undertaking.

Tonight will be a coming out party of sorts for the landmark theater. While Showplace is not officially set to open as a venue (just yet), they are opening their doors for one night; a celebration of all things St. Paddy's. Irish for a Day. The party (doors at 4pm) will include performances by popular local acts Breckenwood, Crashfuse, Cosmic Shakedown and Sleepy Hahas (check em out below). Additionally there will be Irish food aplenty and an endless flow of (what else?) beer. Go for the bands, go for the eats, or just go to see what Showplace looks like nowadays. I, for one, am curious.

Saturday night is alright for fighting, as long as you’re names are either Sir Elton John or Floyd Mayweather (however if you’re reading this I’m assuming you're not one of these men) other than that you best put the gloves away. However Saturday night isn’t only for prizefighters and grammy winners, oh no, there’s a little fun in store for all of us. 

For the general non trophy/ title holding population, Saturday night is perfect for cutting loose and checking out some local bands. It’s not every weekend you get a show like this waving its ass in your face begging for you to give it firm slap. The Sleepy Hahas, Bearhunter, Johnny Nobody, and Wonder & Fury will be taking the stage at Mr. Goodbar this fine evening, and hey mother nature is supposed to grace us with some double digit temperatures too. The Sleepy Hahas will be bringing the ‘chain smoking, bird flippin, wife stealin’ neo grease rock n roll’ along with fellow rust belters Bearhunter, Johnny Nobody and Philadelphia's Wonder & Fury.  Besides, what else are you going to do, stay home and watch the cast of Saturday Night Live “try.”  

The show kicks off at 9pm at Mr. Goodbar (upstairs) 1110 Elmwood Avenue. Five bucks at the door.

Give 2013 the bum's rush and ring in 2014 in high style at the Gypsy Parlor on Grant and Potomac with blog favorites Aircraft and Sleepy Hahas and DJ Manny Sike Lewis. $20 gets you the whole magillah: hors'd'ouevres, prime rib, shrimp, and lobster mac; $5 gets you into the show minus the whole magillah. The show starts at 10 PM and goes until closing. This year was a very good year for Buffalo's music scene, and 2014 looks like a possible break out year for a few bands (at least), so it makes tremendous sense to start the year right with two of the city's finest and ambitious bands. It'll be a celebration.

It’s been close to a year since we last heard material from Buffalo-based rock band, Sleepy Hahas. The band has been semi-inactive over the past several months while recording their forthcoming sixteen track release with Paul Hamann (Black Keys, Ben Folds, Grand Funk Railroad) at Suma Recording Studio in Painsville, OH. On Tuesday, the band released the first single and title track off the mega-album, titled Dull Days, set to be released on a vague date in 2014. “Dull Days,” clocks in at just under two minutes and is by far the band’s shortest track in it’s discography. This short and to the point semi-Brit pop track is an ode to the girls who inspire raucous lead singer, Pat Butler, to stay up late and obsess over. Fans of the Black Lips, Arctic Monkeys or even Black Keys would like the fiery “Dull Days.” Shake your hips to the tambourine below.

 

At 10pm this evening, you've got one shot at helping Buffalo acts Aircraft and Sleepy Hahas, with the help of Chicago indie rockers American Wolf, turn Duke's Bohemian Groove Bar into a steaming pile of rubble. American Wolf is making one stop here as they roll through town in support of their new album, Myriad. Feel free to thank them as you pull the wounded from beneath large piles of debris side by side.

If you find yourself at the Aretha Franklin show tonight and you start thinking, "this is great, but where's the grunge?", you may still have time to make it to The Vault for Merchants' EP Release show. Celebrating the release of their debut EP The Red Room on Admirable Traits Records, Merchants are a four piece fuzz bomb of distorted riffs, soulfully scratchy vocals, and moody atmospherics. They'll also be taking the stage at the buffaBLOG 3rd Birthday Party, so tonight is your chance to check them out early. Joining them will be psychedelic garage band Sleepy Hahas and JOHNS, who are fresh off the release of their tape House of Wrongheads. Doors are at 8pm and the $8 cover includes a copy of The Red Room. 

Tonight, Rochester's Velvet Elvis is playing a special show at the Ninth Ward to celebrate their new full length album In Deep Time with Buffalo's Second Trip and Sleepy Haha's providing opening support. I chatted with one of the dude's in Velvet Elvis a few years back at a Vampire Weekend show in Rochester and I adjudged his rock and roll soul to be true, and Velvet Elvis's heavy duty Black Mountain vibe is sure to please, while blog favorites Sleepy Hahas will be playing cuts from their latest ep I Am Not A Happy Person (reviewed here) and raising the usual hell. It's always a good time when the Rochester and Buffalo scenes collide (ie the 2012 buffaBLOG Holiday Party), and tonight's killer riff fest has all of the ingredients for a memorable night. Doors open at 8 PM and tickets are $10.

As Mohawk Place winds down to it's final days, more and more bands and promoters are saying their final goodbyes. Tonight brings the final Mohawk show from After Dark Entertainment, but it also marks the debut of Buffalo's own Made Violent. I'd like to say something about Made Violent, but I have no idea what they sound like. The "listen" link on After Dark's website takes me to Brother Keep's facebook page (which isn't necessarily a bad thing, Brother Keep is good). Speaking of which, tonight is the official CD release for Brother Keep, whose terrific Face Like a Map made our Album of the Week. The show is also being co-sponsored by Quiet Country Audio, who have been producing some quality work for a number of bands both local and national, including Sleepy Hahas, who are also on tonight's bill. I couldn't find anything on Crooks, due to them being another in a long line of impossible-to-google-band-names (I'm looking at you, Love Scenes). I guess you'll just have to stop pretending to be bothered by all this snow and go find out for yourself. Tickets are $8 and doors are at 10.

Tonight, past and present collide at the Mohawk Place when late 90's and early aughts powerhouse Dollywatchers and up and comers Sleepy Hahas combine for a potentially legendary night of Buffalo rock at this legendary (and soon to be closed) venue. Featuring it's original members for the first time in a decade, Dollywatchers is straight up Buffalo blues rock: hard driving and hard drinking, their return to the Mohawk stage is sure to be momentous. Current local favorites Sleepy Hahas fresh off the release of their latest EP, I Am Not A Happy Person, was our Album of the Week last week and will be kicking things off at 10 PM. $10 buys you a ticket to history. 

Because Dollywatchers comes from a time before Youtube and Soundcloud, enjoy some Sleepy Hahas courtesy of Quiet Country Audio.

Buffalo garage/psych rock outfit Sleepy Hahas are back with a substantial new EP I Am Not A Happy Person that builds nicely on last year's Cranberry Juice & Battery Acid. Drummer Steve Tripi, bassist Mo Halliday, keyboardist Phil Shore, and guitarist, vocalist and writer Pat Butler have been building mass these last few years, and with this latest effort shows that the Hahas once again have a gift for dark, menacing, and thrilling grooves and for pushing themselves further. The six songs on I Am Not A Happy Person are intelligent, impressively bold, and decidedly multidimensional.

"Your Girl" kicks the EP off in impressive fashion with a dark, killer guitar riff, boldly placed keyboards, and an arena ready chorus that suggests there's some serious ambition at work here, and taste. "Black Mud" picks up on that with some of the most focused playing I've heard locally this year from the hard rock side of town. The Sabbath meets Black Keys riffs and crunchy, heavy  breaks work perfectly because this band is tight, and Butler's charismatic vocals float nicely on top of all of it, including the tastefully deployed and executed obligatory wails. 

"Tiresias," the centerpiece of the album, seamlessly folds a little Nick Cave into the proceedings. Butler shines, alternating between a Cave croon, a crystalline falsetto, and his patented power rock wail, while the rest of the band also shows their versatility through a series of change ups that give the song a properly epic feel that showcases their capacity for scale and grandeur.  Indeed, the song as a whole is a bold gesture, and it pays off magnificently. But the menace and darkness is never far away on I Am Not A Happy Person, and "Black Tar Heroin" is as dark and nasty as it sounds, with the band finding another satisfyingly evil groove to drive. If "Tiresias" nimbly flirts with prog, "Black Tar Heroin" is it's opposite number, straight ahead, devastatingly intense... and a sharp and pleasing juxtaposition.

The sunny and loose "Annabel Lee" at first seems almost out of place and almost off putting at first glance until the Hahas flip it upside down, crushing the bridge and introducing welcome chaos into the previously twee and swinging ballad. Even with mild grunge notes and a knob twisting conclusion "Dead on Halloween" brings I Am Not A Happy Person to a satisfying conclusion courtesy art-rock death canyon blues guitars, a clever and apropos sound clip, and yet more excellent keyboard work from Phil Shore, whose bold presence lifts the entire EP to another level, bridging the garage and psych rock aspects of the band with the bold, early 70's piano driven rock of Leon Russell and (early) Elton John. Sleepy Hahas are a mightily ambitious band with a lot going on, things abundantly clear on their latest effort, and that's why I Am Not A Happy Person is our Album of the Week- that and the fact that it drops today, which means you should get on this right away.

Buffalo's I Can See Mountains play the kind of feel-good punk music that seems to exist solely to let everyone have a good time.  Their seven-song release, Hope You Never Get It, is a collection of messy, fun pop punk (because you know they're jumping around while they're playing it) chock full of sing alongs and a seemingly endless number of vocalists.  Their songs are simple to comprehend.  It's all about friendship and having a great time and that makes for a light-hearted listen.

They'll be playing tonight at DBGB's with fellow Buffalo pop-punk in All Blondes Go To Heaven as well as Sleepy Hahas and The Traditional.  The show is $8 - doors are at 9:00 PM.

If I had it my way, Infringement would last two months, not two weeks. Now we are onto night nine of Infringement. 


9pm RonaldRaygun @ Mohawk 
2012 has been a big year for Raygun. First, former front man Steve Gordon stepped to the side to focus more on his guitar licks. Second, Gordon was replaced with riot girl songstress Ashley Kyle. The addition of Kyle’s gritty, raw vocals influenced by her classic rock idols has revamped the band’s previous indie rock leanings to a whole new direction. Now they are like if Bif Naked added a theramin. I bet you a hundred dollars their bassist wears huge sunglasses. 


10pm – Handsome Jack, Sleepy Hahas, The Screaming Jeans @ DBGB’s 
Two veterans of buffaBLOG’s Infringement Party (Handsome Jack and Sleepy Haha’s) will team up with alt-rock quartet The Screaming Jeans. Handsome Jack’s feel good retro –blues rock will make you feel like you are time traveling back to the 70s, but only until Sleepy Hahas bring you back to speed with their modern indie rock a la Arctic Monkeys/Queens of the Stone Age. 

2am – The Love Scenes @ Soundlab 
Electronic duo consisting of Buffalo’s indie songstress Leah Loefke and the Teller to her Penn TJ Grace. The two will be playing select songs off their recently released album Blissed Out Youth. It will be a late one, but the band’s perfect combination of dreamy vocals with upbeat electronic instrumentation will be a great way to come down while staying up on another fun-filled Infringement fueled night.

Well I am clearly a little late with this writeup. The 2012 Infringement Festival is already kicking my ass. Last night started with the quaint, cordial Love Scenes show at The Vault and quickly devolved into Allentown mayhem with Ronald Raygun performing both of their double booked sets at Nietzsche's and Duke's an hour apart from each other (with a chaotic caravan of musicians and fans hustling equipment across Allen Street so the band could make both shows).  Such is the nature of Buffalo's most frenetic and adventurous festival. Let's see what's in store for today.

buffaBLOG's Broadway Market Rooftop Extravaganza
This is going on right now (it started at 1), so stop reading this post and get your ass to the Broadway Market! From 1-7, festival goers will be treated to sets from Victory For Poland, Sleepy Haha's, Merchants, The Albrights, Handsome Jack and Trakbenders spinning in between sets.  This was a lot of fun last year, so don't miss your chance to catch it this time.  Bring a chair!

Merge Electronic Circus
Taking place in the parking lot next to Merge, this should be one of the more interesting concerts of the week.  A who's who list of Buffalo electronic artists will be playing from 9pm-1:30am, including Eppo, Bear Skin Rug, Medison, Mario Be, Trakbenders (busy day, guys!) Jeff Repeater, Ay Fast, Drop D and Nobez.  This is a rare chance to enjoy some of Buffalo's finest electronic artists in the great outdoors, so be sure to drop by.

Nietzsche's - Wham Bam Thank You Slam part deux
 Sort of the de facto nucleus of the Infringement Festival, Nietzsche's has a packed lineup tonight once again. Performances by DJ Soma, The Hell's Harlots, Wham Bam Poetry Troupe, The Buffalo Burlesque Collective, MC Vendetta, Lazyrus, Tim Sentman and the Essential Vitamins Crew.  Stop pretending like you're not going to go.


The Best of the Rest
Don't forget to drop into Duke's at 11 to catch Armageddon Party. Also, Slyboots, Broadway Joe's and Filigree's all have good music going on tonight if you're looking for something off the beaten Allentown path.  In the eternal words of 311, my favorite band from high school: "Don't Stay Home!"  (and you thought I couldn't work in a 311 reference)

In just a few hours, we will be throwing our 2nd installment of our Broadway Market Rooftop Extravaganza as part of the 2012 Buffalo Infringement Festival.  Not to toot our own horn or anything, but you would be hard to find a more unique venue for this year's festival than our rooftop party.  So come spend your afternoon with us, relaxing under the (hopeful) summer sun, listening to some of Buffalo's best local acts.  And if you are hungry, just walk down a couple flights to grab some of the amazing food in the market.

All week we have been introducing or reintroducing all of the acts that will be gracing the stage/roof today.  If you missed any of the artist spotlights, please take a moment to check them out below.

TrakBenders
Victory for Poland
Sleepy Hahas
Merchants
Handsome Jack
The Albrights

Remember, event is rain or shine.  If the weather does not cooperate with us this afternoon, we will move the party to the 2nd floor of the market.  If you are wondering where to park, you can drive right up to the roof, its huge.  Bring something to sit on unless you find the pavement rather comfortable.  And lastly, bring a few bucks for the artists.  All of them are doing this for free, but if a donation bucket is sent around, toss them a few.  It would be greatly appreciated.

Party runs from 1:00pm - 7:00pm.  No cover.  See you then.

Tonight, Rochester based band The Demos will be playing a show at Mohawk Place, with openers Sleepy Hahas and Sleepless City. The Demos have only released two studio albums, but they already have a finely tuned sound, a mash up of sorts of early 2000’s garage rock and west coast surf punk acts like Girls. As mentioned before, local bands Sleepy Hahas and Sleepless City will be opening for them, in a blend of different genres. Sleepy Hahas are a bluesy psych rock band with a lot of originality to offer, and based on their music, one can imagine they put on quite the performance live. This band will also be performing at our rooftop show this Saturday as part of Buffalo’s Infringement Festival with acts such as the Albrights and Victory For Poland. Sleepless City is a five piece alternative/reggae band formed around Buffalo NY, and tonight they are playing their final show together. This is definitely not a show to miss. Tonight's cover is $5 while doors open at 7:00pm.