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Goulash at Day Block Brewing

From the beginning, Communist Daughter has been an outsider, a band of unassuming midwestern musicians, their gracefully dark indie rock, and their heavily troubled past. Born out of the struggles of singer / songwriter John Solomon, six musicians from Minneapolis and Saint Paul MN came together in 2010 to make ?Soundtrack to the End.? Their highly touted debut album about drug addictions, lost love and lost chances. Barely more than a basement recording, the album started hitting critics lists and soundtracking hit tv shows, all while the band was stuck in limbo waiting for John as he spent 2010 and 2011 in and out of mental hospitals and treatment facilities.

In 2012 John returned with his bandmates, his now wife Molly Solomon, bassist Adam Switlick, Steven Yasgar on Drums, Al Weirs on guitar and Dillon Marchus on keys. That summer they put out another critically acclaimed release, their EP ?Lions & Lambs? and began touring the country for the first time, playing with the likes of Jason Isbell, The Walkmen, The Mountain Goats, Sturgill Simpson and more.

Communist Daughter spent the next few years on the road in between recording sessions with acclaimed producer Kevin Bowe (Replacements, Meat Puppets.) They took their 2nd album to Nashville and mixed the record with Andrija Tokic (Alabama Shakes, Benjamin Booker) that summer and came back with their sophomore LP ?The Cracks That Built The Wall.?

With the release of the record in Fall of 2016 they garnered the widest critical comparisons yet, from Brian Wilson to Nirvana to the National, having critics tag them with ?post folk grunge? to describe their unassuming genre bending style. Through it all, people connected as much with the complicated back story as they did with the music as John began talking about his recovery in mental health and addiction. Communist Daughter ended their last national tour at SXSW in March of 2017 before heading back into the studio to start work on album #3, coming soon...

?If you're going through heartbreak, and you can write a song, it's a wonderful win-win - because it takes your mind off the heartbreak, and you get to vent.? ? Nikki Sixx

GREG LASWELL?S EVERYONE THINKS I DODGED A BULLET CONSIDERED.

Okay, so what? Here?s another album about heartbreak or heartache.

But isn?t the worry that when each of us stares down heartbreak/ache (we all do) ? we just want so desperately to know that as many as possible are just as miserable as we are? Misery doesn?t just need company ? it needs a very specific sort of kinship. And it needs someone who can profoundly articulate it ? not just rhyme a few words about some inconsiderate asshole. It?s not important to reveal the specific catalyst for Greg Laswell?s latest record, Everyone Thinks I Dodged a Bullet ? but rather to focus anew on what makes him one of the most uncompromising songwriters of these modern times. You may recognize a bit of Leonard Cohen in his tormented baritone. You might think of Tom Waits when you sense how deep down in the gut these songs come from.

But if there is a quality that still and ever marks out Laswell?s writing, it is an ability to use words like unrepentant paper cuts. Should you be at the receiving end, perhaps you might not at first feel the sting; but it will burn like hell later.

Imagine the coldness of being the subject of such biting vitriol as, ?I'm gonna be lazy when I write about you.? Imagine that you mean so much nothing to someone you once meant the world to. And how would you process the sting of, ?What are you going to do when gravity gets to you?? Meanness, after all, is sometimes utterly justified ? and in Greg Laswell?s world, no punches are pulled for the sake of possible hurt feelings.

But if you feel the same as does he, the words feel like little (or maybe enormous) triumphs. His pen is mighty ? especially when it?s aimed at the heart. And the songs urge you to join in pushing the point in deeper.

The music lends powerful atmospheric gravitas to the words. It soars with tortured majesty (?Lifetime Ago?), it haunts so ever beautifully (?Out of Line?), and it aches with a piercing sadness (?Play That One Again?).

Popmatters called his work, ?Haunting, genuine and surprisingly uplifting.? Filter described his songs as ?Punches to the gut.? And Blurt said of his music that it?s both ?majestic and meditative.? On the title track Laswell matter-of-factly confesses, ?Everyone thinks I dodged a bullet / But I think I shot the gun.? Loaded words, for an album loaded with open wounds.

An acoustic band born in the land of tech innovation, Front Country was never going to be accepted as an authentic American roots band out of the gate. Cutting their teeth in progressive bluegrass jams in San Francisco's Mission District and rehearsing in the East Bay, they learned to play roots music their own way, with the tools they had on hand. A mandolinist with a degree in composition and classical guitar. A guitarist trained in rock and world music. A bassist equally versed in jazz and bluegrass. A violinist with technique that could seamlessly hop between honky tonk and electropop. A female lead singer with grit and soul that was also a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. In a wood-paneled country dive bar in the shadow of the San Francisco skyline, Front Country forged a sound hell bent on merging the musical past with the future. ?In the bluegrass world, musicians tend to define themselves by their tradition and discipline. But Front Country is defined by its no-rules approach.? - NPR Music

?Lead singer and songwriter for progressive bluegrass band Front Country, Melody Walker is an outspoken force.? - Paste ?Other Love Songs is Front Country?s Roots Pop opus, and promises to be the band?s most intensely creative and original project to date. The songs are emotional in nature and examine love with a self-aware twist. ? - Live for Live Music ?Fans of modern acoustic music will find much to enjoy in their more experimental approach within the traditional bluegrass quintet.? - Bluegrass Today ?punchy bluegrass-tinged pop? - Live for Live Music ?With Influences ranging from Bluegrass to Classic Rock to Modern Country, Front Country refuses to conform to the genre standards? IBMA ?One of the best up-and-coming progressive and forward-thinking bluegrass bands on the rise is Front Country? Arizona Daily Sun ? There are several young bands on the Americana scene today who are pushing the progressive boundaries of bluegrass style while keeping their roots in the traditional sounds they?ve harvested from around the country. Front Country is one of the best at that, and Other Love Songs makes the case for why they don?t have many equals.? - Twangville ?irresistibly listenable and relatable.? - The Boot ?Front Country and its principals never attempted to fit into a tidy box neatly labeled ?bluegrass.? ? - The Lonesome Road Review This quintet has been called ?passionately intoxicating? and ?orchestral,? and Melody?s bluesy vocals have been described as ?rafter-shaking.? Yes Weekly ?The album is about as forward-thinking as acoustic music gets? Nashville Scene ?They aren't 100% sure what they're making - they're just focusing on making good, unique music that they want to make. Not everything has to be a cookie-cutter genre-filler? Sonically Awkward ?What Front Country has shown with ?Other Love Songs? is that it is willing to look at traditional instruments and approach them from a whole new perspective for a whole new sound? Tahoe On Stage UK REVIEWS ?Soulful, gritty and determined, Melody Walker lives up to her name with some of her finest songs to date.? Northern Sky Magazine UK ?To say the playing is virtuosic is an understatement! Given that their command of the instruments they play is so exceptional that it's difficult to visualize anything in roots music that this band couldn't master?American Roots UK ?Action packed Roots Pop from California? Maverick Magazine UK ?Front Country continue to defy the constraints that oft define bluegrass or string band music on Other Love Songs? Folk Radio UK ?Front Country's dynamic instrumental textures take flight with grace and gravitas while rooted in relentlessly soulful vocals? Proper Music UK

Dirty Heads with special guests Iration, The Movement and Pacific Dub at The Cabooze Outdoor Plaza on Sunday, June 17th, 2018.

Tickets & info: http://bit.ly/2FJVToz

$31.00 advance/$36.00 DOS

4:00 p.m. Doors/5:00 p.m. Showtime/18+

First Fleet Concerts Presents:
The Lacs

with
CRUCIFIX
Hard Target
Nate Kenyon

Fri, June 15, 2018
Doors: 8:00 pm / Show: 9:00 pm
$22.00 - $25.00
18+ show

AWOLNATION w. The Neighbourhood, lovelytheband & L.I.F.T. at Cabooze Plaza

Doors are at 5:00 PM. Show is at 6:00 PM. This is an All Ages show.

Sale Dates and Times:

Public Onsale : Fri, 23 Mar 2018 at 10:00 AM

Live Nation Presale : Thu, 22 Mar 2018 at 10:00 AM using code ENCORE

Live Nation Mobile App Presale : Thu, 22 Mar 2018 at 10:00 AM