Birds of Avalon

w/ Subrig Destroyer & Red Fang

Wednesday, May 23 @ Caledonia Lounge

originally published May 23, 2007

Many a relationship has fallen prey to the seven-year itch, which can be either a bitch or a time for renewal and reinvention. The 2004 split of guitarist Cheetie Kumar and then-bassist Paul Siler from legendary North Carolina rock outfit The Cherry Valence seems to be a testament to the latter. After seven years and several tours of the US and Europe, Siler and Kumar got hitched and ditched the band, one of the region’s hardest-rocking two-drum outfits.

After returning to their home in Raleigh, Siler and Kumar began jamming with old friend vocalist Craig Tilley (The Weather), Siler making the switch to guitar. It wasn’t that hard to convince multi-instrumentalist David Mueller (Strange) to play bass, or to persuade their favorite local drummer Scott Nurkin (The Dynamite Bros.) to join their plight, taking flight with their newest incarnation, The Birds of Avalon.

Before swinging back down South and playing Athens, the band toured through the Midwest and out to the West Coast to promote its first album Bazaar Bazaar, recorded and produced by Greg Elkins, Cherry Valence drummer/vocalist Brian Quast and Mitch Easter, the North Carolina recording heavyweight and former frontman of Let's Active - he also produced R.E.M.'s debut single, EP and their first two albums. “It was a great opportunity to work with Easter,“ says Mueller. “We wanted to record in the area so we wouldn’t be rushed, and so that we’d have time to focus.”

The final result of those sessions is a hard-hitting set of originals channeling elements of rock, blues, psychedelia and pop. "We actually just saw the first copies of the album tonight," says Mueller, "and were able to exhale, because it looks exactly the way we wanted it to look."

Deirdre Sayre

Sleepy Horses

w/ Nightingale News & Feral Throes

Friday, May 25 @ Caledonia Lounge

originally published May 23, 2007

"I was very tempted to lose the name Sleepy Horses at this point," says frontman and chief songwriter Nic Goodson, the Texas transplant who's been wooing audiences for about a year and a half with atmospheric country-fused rock, "but Sleepy Horses has always been my baby. In Lubbock it consisted of different players, so I came to the conclusion that this was an ever-evolving band/project that could grow and shrink as it may."

After the dissolution of the past Sleepy Horses lineup due to a bevy of personal problems, Goodson recruited two local friends to build a new version of his band, settling on the trio format. Coy King, who performs around town solo as Nightingale News and is an occasional contributing writer to Flagpole's music section, handles the standup bass duties. Dave Forker's on drums, and he's no stranger to the Sleepy Horses; he'd often fill in when Sleepy Horses 2006 drummer Jim Wilson was unavailable for tour, and even pinch-hit for the first half of the Horses' CD release show when Wilson was held up following an arrest.

This lineup of the Horses played an acoustic show several weeks back opening for the Eric McFadden Trio, warming up the songs and getting in shape for the live setting, but tonight's show is the first "official" electrified gig of the new permanent incarnation of the Sleepy Horses, and will feature the stage debut of a healthy amount of new material while still working some of the tunes from last year's studio debut Somewhere Out West, Lonesome For You. "I am also excited about the honky-tonk purism that exists having a drummer, one standup bassist slappin' away and one Telecaster," says Goodson. "It harks back to the Tennessee Three [and] old country backing bands."

Chris Hassiotis

Jay Gonzalez

Every Wednesday @ Kingpins

originally published May 23, 2007

I miss in-town living a little less because of Jay Gonzalez, of local band Nutria. But perhaps it’s best to back up and explain why the ubiquitous songwriter has improved outside-the-loop life. I eat, drink and bowl on the Westside - and I’ll even shop at Bell's if the missus lets me, or leaves me. Last Wednesday, she was gone and Bells was closed, so I decided that Kingpins’ better-than-average bowling alley cuisine would suffice.

Eating bacon-wrapped meatloaf alone at the bar while watching Maddux pitch against the Braves on a rec-room quality tube, the mood couldn’t've been more morose: a meal the wife should have prepared while watching a 300-game winner that used to be ours had me feeling utterly despondent.

Beneath the clatter and din of crashing pins and bowling-lane banter, though, were the ebony and ivory grand-piano keys and a voice seemingly born to sing pop songs. Jay Gonzalez is the resident piano man, and his repertoire is vast and nostalgic. He wraps up the Naked Eyes/ Burt Bacharach tune “(There’s) Always Something There to Remind Me,” and I agree; this used to be our bowling alley. Now, it’s just me and Jay. And he takes requests! Ever the glutton for painful relationship punishment I request the break-up classic “Under the Clay” (from Nutria’s Cheef), and the song prevails even when reduced to the bare essentials of voice and piano.

“I have a way of insinuating myself into situations,” says Gonzalez during a set break, adding with a smile, “Maybe it’s not the hippest thing to do. Some weeks there are a lot of friends here and some weeks it’s a little emptier.” He chuckles. “Either way I get to play my favorite songs for three hours.” This evening’s set was peppered with variety, everything from “Femme Fatale” to “Band on the Run,” and he's here every Wednesday from 8 to 11 p.m. at the bowling alley's lounge.

David Eduardo