Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band to Play Mac’s Uptowner

By Neil Schneider

Verge Reporter

Indiana based group, Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band will be performing at Mac’s Uptowner, 623 Monroe Ave., at 9 p.m. today.

The band’s name would suggest that there are a lot of members in the band, but actually there are only three.

Rev. Peyton is the singer and guitarist, while his wife Breezy Peyton plays the washboard and his brother Jayme Peyton plays the drums.

Rev. Peyton began playing music with his brother Jayme when he was 12 years old and soon, they both developed a love for country and blues.

“We really didn’t start playing shows in front of people until a few years ago, but me and my brother have been playing music together for a long time,” Rev. Peyton said.

When Rev. Peyton was 19, Breezy Peyton began playing the washboard and developing an interest in the same music that they both enjoyed.

When he was 19, Rev. Peyton suffered a strange hand problem that rendered his hands nearly unusable.

He was forced to quit playing the guitar for about two years.

After several doctors’ examinations, Rev. Peyton was finally able to find a doctor that attempted a procedure that gave him the strength back in his hands.

After the successful operation, the band picked back up and began to further develop its country and blues sound.

“To me there are two kinds of blues,” Rev. Peyton said. “There are city blues where you got your electric sound with B.B. King and Stevie Ray Vaughn, and then you’ve got more of a rural blues. Those older rural blues are what struck a chord in me.”

The Brown County-based band draws its name from a saying that Rev. Peyton had when he was a boy.

“I used to have a tendency to call things ‘a big damn bear’ or ‘a big damn gun,’ so that’s where the name comes from,” Rev. Peyton said.

Rev. Peyton, 27, said that the bands influences include The Charlie Daniels Band, Son House, Creedance Clearwater Revival and The Mississippi Shieks.

They have recorded three albums, “Big Damn Nation” (2006), “The Gospel Album” (2007) and “The Whole Fam Damnily” (2008).

Rev. Peyton said that the title for their newest album comes from a saying his mother would use.

“My mom used to always say, ‘Oh well, the whole fam damnily is here,’” Peyton said. “It was kind of a tribute to her in a way.”

Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn band has only been playing live for three years, but already they have been performing 250 shows each year.

They are slated to be a part of the Warped Tour in August as well as having shows in Europe during the fall.

Rev. Peyton said that the band has had some interesting stories from the road that range from hitchhikers that were convicts to meeting Axl Rose and Naomi Judd.

“You just never know who you’re going to meet when you’re out on the road,” Rev. Peyton said.

 

MTV Show Finalist Changes Eli Jones

By Sarah Ruholl

Assistant Verge Editor

Recent times have seen a lot of changes for Eli Jones & The Bare Bones.

The most notable being the addition of singer Stefanie Berecz.

Berecz brought a professional air to the band.

She was a finalist on MTV’s “Making the Band” and won the 2006 Bar 1 Big Break. She’s opened for Mary J. Blige and sang the national anthem at sporting events.

Although Eli Jones is the first live band she has ever been a part of, her arrival made the band finally get serious.

“Before, we were, musically and ambitions wise, ambling along,” guitarist and songwriter Brendan O’Connell said about the band in its earlier incarnation.

The band will play at 9 p.m. on Saturday at Friends and Co.

In the beginning, O’Connell was also the lead vocalist.

He said the music used to be more focused on complicated compositions and intricate guitar parts. Berecz’s voice gave them a new sense of pride in their work and changed the dynamic of the songs.

“We just sort of stripped everything down; we didn’t have to hide behind it,” he said.

Her vocals are big and well suited to a soulful groove. The voice is the main focus of the band’s sound.

During live shows, O’Connell says, “We’re just up there cheering Stefanie on.”

With their new, soulful sound and recently added horn section, the band is stepping up their game.

Guitarist Chris Corsale feels the band has more to offer than most.

“We’re more than your average bar band, you get a horn section,” Corsale said about why students should check out the band’s performance at Friend’s and Co. Saturday night.

Near the end of recording their first album “Make It Right”, the band decided to add a different element to the tracks.

A horn section was assembled with students from various state colleges. The tracks were arranged and mixed into the album, and that was supposed to be the end of the horn section.

Then, shortly before the album was set to be released, the Chicago-based band was invited to play a festival show. The band asked the musicians to join them for the show, as well as the record release show.

Baritone sax player Jon Edwards, tenor sax player Jim Schram and trombone player Eric Miller enjoyed playing live with the band. After the two gigs, they approached the rest of the band and asked to be a permanent part of the group.

As all the pieces begin to fall together, the band has earned a reputation across the Midwest for their fun live show and Berecz’s pitch-perfect vocals.

Fans often tell the band that they always appear to be having a lot of fun on stage, and it is because they are.

O’Connell hopes the band continues to gain popularity, with what he describes as their non-offensive sound winning over fans that simply enjoy good music, dancing and fantastic singing.

The band sees themselves moving up in the music scene.

During live shows, Corsale gets a certain funny feeling and thinks to himself, “Wow, I’m really part of something here.”

 

Local Bands to Play Habitat for Humanity Benefit Concert

By Sarah Ruholl

Assistant Verge Editor

This Saturday night, 7th Street Underground will be rocking for a good cause.

The EIU chapter of Habitat for Humanity is hosting a benefit show Saturday night from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. featuring the Staff Blues Band, Howard, Learn to Fly, Little Boy Junior and Thriftstore Beatniks.

There is a $4 minimum donation to get into the show, and the money is going towards “The House that EIU Built” fund. The campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity is working toward funding and building a house somewhere in Coles County.

Usually, the Coles County chapter funds the houses and the campus chapter helps with the labor, but they hope to do one on their own. The group is a little over halfway to their $30,000 goal to fund a house themselves.

This is the first benefit show the group is hosting, and another is planned for the spring.

“We thought it would be cool to have another organization support local music,” Bryan Rolfsen, junior biological sciences major and member of the campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity, said about the decision to host a rock show.

Rolfsen is also a member of the band Howard, and he wanted to give some of the local bands a chance to play on campus. He is also hoping that the local names will help draw in a crowd.

“We chose those bands because they have a following and we want people to come,” he said.

All of the bands except Thriftstore Beatniks have Eastern students in them. The Thriftstore Beatniks is a solo guitarist named Adrian Sobol from Chicago whom Rolfsen said plays mostly folk rock. When Sobol performs in Chicago, he will often play with a cellist as well, but it will be just him at the show Saturday night.

Rolfsen is excited that the Staff Blues Band, the winner of the Verge’s Battle of the Bands, will be playing the show.

“We’re friends with them, and they’re really good,” he said.

The EIU chapter of Habitat for Humanity’s biggest fundraiser is the annual Shantytown event in spring.

“The high school kids build shanties out of cardboard and tape. They go around and collect donations from their parents and local people,” Rolfsen said.

The campus chapter and the county chapter also sponsor a dinner dance and silent auction in February and share the money raised.

The group is hoping students come out and support their cause.

“We thought people could come and have some fun,” he said.

 

Ruckus.com shut down

College students are notorious for illegally pirating music. And with the recent shut down of one Web site, www.ruckus.com, the number of students getting their music illegally is likely to rise. Ruckus was a legal streaming service offered exclusively to college students with a valid college e-mail address, sort of like an early Facebook, but with music streams instead of social networks.

The site was backed by Sony and Universal, and it was not the only one in their line-up to face the ax. TotalMusic and Tunepost were also shut down.

Students are rightfully concerned about the lack of legal, free music available.

 

Ladymoon Plays at the Uptowner

By Sarah Ruholl

Assistant Verge Editor

Indianapolis-based jam band Ladymoon will play at 10 p.m Saturday at Mac’s Uptowner.

Originally formed as a three-piece band in 2001, they went through a four-year hiatus from 2003 to 2007, and then lineup changes in 2008.

Original drummer Mark McKowen left the group in October for a more settled lifestyle.

Ladymoon plays about three shows a week around the Midwest. Saturday will be their first time in Charleston, but they have played in Champaign-Urbana, Peoria and Bloomington in the past.

“We’re always excited about any opportunity to perform,” said Ryan Brown, guitarist and vocalist for Ladymoon.

When McKowen left the band he was replaced with cousins George and Nick Mallers.

George Mallers provides keyboards, guitar and vocals.

Nick Mallers is the drummer and also a vocalist.

Kris Potts, bassist and vocalist, rounds out the band as the only other original member.

“Kris and I have been playing together a long time off and on,” Brown said.

All four members have played in different bands throughout the years.

“Musically, I think its about as good as its ever been,” Brown said. “I feel like I’ve finally got four people together on the same page, music and business wise.”

The live show is energetic and is best with bigger crowds.

“It just takes a few people to start dancing, and it turns into a party,” Brown said.

Their set is mostly original songs influenced by everything from Phish to Soundgarden to the Allman Brothers. They do some cover songs as well.

“We’ve tried to hone in on good song writing and make things tangible to everyone,” Brown said.

Before, the band’s songs were complex and only other musicians seemed to really get what they were doing, he said.

The band has since become more crowd-friendly.

“If you put us in front of a bunch of people, we can really perform,” he said.

Ladymoon is working on a new, as-yet-untitled album. They hope to have it out by April.

Jam bands have not been in the limelight much in the last few years, but that is set to change soon.

“I think Phish coming back this summer is going to bring a lot of recognition back to the genre,” Brown said.

Phish’s reemergence comes at a time of change in the genre as a whole.

“A few of the bigger groups have faded out,” he said. “There is going to be a lot of younger bands getting recognition.”

 

The Battle has only Begun

The battle that started it all is back for another semester. And only two days are left to submit mp3s to denverge@gmail.com.

Once again, the Verge and the University Board are co-sponsoring a campus wide battle of the bands.

The submission deadline is March 29, and voting will be open to the public on April 1.

The five bands with the most votes will battle it out at 7 p.m. April 16 at 7th Street Underground for an opening spot at Pantherstock on May 1.

The winners will join the EIU Jazz Band and last semester’s Battle of the Bands winner, the Staff Blues Band, as they open for Wrong Way, a Sublime tribute group.

To be eligible, at least one member of the band must be a current Eastern student and no member may be involved with The Daily Eastern News or the UB.

“Its an opportunity to really show what you can do,” said Sean Walker, Staff Blues’ vocalist and a senior art major. “I feel like it really opened a lot of doors for us.”

The battle is more than just a show. It provides bands with an opportunity to connect to the campus, broaden their fan base, meet other musicians and set up more shows in the future.

“(The last battle) gave us an opportunity to network with other bands,” Walker said.

He also noted that the battle marked the beginning of his group playing a lot of shows with other Eastern bands, particularly Little Boy Jr. and MugWump Specific, two other contenders from the fall battle.

The music scene as a whole has changed since the original Battle of the Bands.

“I feel it’s grown tremendously,” Walker said. “Going back to last school year, it was really non-existent.”

The growth spurt is showing no signs of stopping.

“The music scene right now is really booming, and it can only go up,” Walker said.

Pantherstock is in its third year of existence and is an event that reaches the entire campus.

“It’s a collaboration with Celebration: (A Festival of the Arts,)” said Lauren Phillips, the UB’s mainstage coordinator. “It kicks off Celebration.”

The concert will be in the Library Quad on May 1. Celebration will run through May 3.

 

Bands, bar owners pay tribute to deceased English professor

By Sarah Ruholl

Assistant Verge Editor

Often, remembering those who have passed is a somber occasion.

English professor Graham Lewis, who died October 21, 2008, was not the sort of person who would have wanted such a tribute.

His wife, Kit Morice, the curator of education at the Tarble Arts Center, decided to have a tribute that Lewis would have loved.

“It’s going to be a fun evening,” said English professor Dan Tessitore. “It’s going to be a rock n’ roll show.”

The rock show, Graham Jam, is at 9 p.m. Saturday at Top of the Roc, 410 6th St., Charleston.

The Whiskey Daredevils will headline the show, with The Porn Again Christians and MugWump Specific opening.

Tessitore, who will emcee the event, met Lewis when they attended graduate school together in 1991.

Since that time, the two remained close friends, eventually becoming colleagues.

“He’s a big part of the reason I’m here in Charleston,” Tessitore said. “He was one of my best friends.”

Nearly everyone involved in putting the show on was a friend of Lewis’.

“He was the friendliest and most open-minded person I’ve ever met,” said Jake Pope, a former student of Lewis and the drummer for the Porn Again Christians. “I can guarantee that there is no one that ever met Graham that didn’t like him.”

Mike Knoop, the owner of Roc’s and former owner of the Uptowner, also knew Lewis.

“He and all of his friends have been customers of mine for 28 years,” Knoop said.

Pope said his band is excited to play in tribute of their friend, and that this is only the first concert for Lewis.

“There will be more to come,” Pope said. “We decided to play this first one because we all loved Graham, and what better way to honor him than with live music? He loved live music. He lived for it.”

The show is not a memorial of his death, so much as it is a tribute to his life. “

Graham would want people to get loose, do whatever makes them happy and experience one of the many things he enjoyed so much, live music,” Pope said.

“It’s the kind of party he would want us to have,” Tessitore said.

 

Spring Battle Of The Bands

The Battle of the Bands is back for another go-around, and it starts tomorrow at 7 p.m. Once again, 7th Street Underground will be home to what is sure to be an epic battle of rock’n'roll. The Verge and University Board will play the role of hostess, with Sarah Jean Breshnahan MC’ing.

The set will feature AJ Schupert, Howard, Little Boy Jr., Learn to Fly and MugWump Specific.

The winners will join The Staff Blues Band and the EIU Jazz Band in opening for Wrong Way at Pantherstock.

Its all ages. And free!