Event
Christian Lopez Band with Special Guests, Grace & Tony
Christian Lopez Band is celebrating Halloween in their hometown this year, and they are going all out! On October 29th, they will be taking over the Shepherdstown Opera House, WV for their very first Halloween show ever! It will be called, Fright Night. Not only is this a homecoming for Christian Lopez, but also returning to Martisnburg is Alabama's own, Grace and Tony! And yes, they are all dressing up.. You'll find out on the night of the show.
About Christian Lopez Band:
Christian Lopez is a 19-year-old with the soul of a 65-year-old Appalachian mountain bluegrass musician hidden away inside, steeped in the roots of his West Virginia upbringing in Martinsburg on the shores of the Potomac River in the Eastern Panhandle of the state. On his debut full-length effort, ONWARD, the young artist emulates the sound produced by the region's resident pickers and strummers, writing all but one of the songs on the album. Highlights include the Old Testament gravity of the focus track, "Leaving It Out," the plaintive, yearning lament of "Seven Years," the twangy pedal steel guitar lacing through "Morning Rise" and the whistling-past-the-graveyards fatalism of the ghostly goth-gospel "Oh Those Tombs," a song Christian discovered in the public domain popularized by Hank Williams.
Christian's impressive melding of influences into something identifiably his own ranges from the classic rebel country of Kris Kristofferson ("Morning Rise") to the lyrical folk-rock of Jackson Browne and James Taylor ("Take You Away," "The Man I Was Before"); from the classic rockers in his dad's record collection like AC/DC, Pink Floyd, Van Halen, Foreigner and Free ( "Goodbye") to the neo-Americana revival of the Avett Brothers and Old Crow Medicine Show ("Don't Know How"), which first prompted him to unplug his electric Les Paul to prove you can "rock your face off" with an acoustic. There's even a hint of world music in the Middle Eastern rage-by-way-of Celtic jig of "Stay with You," which builds to its own impressive, operatic Orbison-esque climax.
If his previous five-song Pilot EP was, in Christian's own words, about adolescent relationships, ONWARD is about the responsibilities and sacrifices that come with pursuing something you are drive to do. Songs like "Seven Years" and "Pick Me Up" are about moving inexorably forward, forced to leave those you love behind, even while keeping them close. The conflicts described in "Stay with You" and "Will I See You Again" could be summarized in the phrase, "should I stay or should I go," while the gravity of "Leaving It Out" and the orchestral benediction of the closing "Goodbye" confront mortality itself with hope, optimism and joy intact. ONWARD is about yearning to put down some roots, but being hopelessly addicted to the wanderlust of the road, seeking to escape the day-to-day for the promise of what tomorrow may bring.
"There are songs about staying, and songs about leaving," he laughs. "So I guess I'd agree." Produced by Dave Cobb (Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson) who also worked with Christian on his previous EP at his Nashville-based Low Country Sounds studio -- Lopez was able to use that experience in recording his album bow, which is, in the singer/songwriter's own words, "a much more organic, natural effort."
"I wanted less effects on my vocals, a drier, more present sound," he explains. "Less touched-up elements in the production, with everything right on the surface, not too much make-up, and Dave Cobb is the guy to go to for that. He's such a genuine producer, who makes music in such a pure, old-school way. He's the right person for the job. In the same way, Christian has no real use for today's crossover-obsessed Nashville, preferring the city's more authentic past. "I feel out of step with it and I'm proud to be," he declares. "From the beginning, I've never wanted to make 'pop' music...I knew my heart is in a different place. I was influenced by artists and bands that pushed through that barrier to do the music they loved. My goal is to work my ass off to succeed with that approach. That's the destination I have my sights set on."
Although he's been playing piano since he was five (introduced to it by his music teacher mom, an opera and classical music lover) and guitar at six, in several garage bands along the way, Lopez has only been performing his own music in front of people for the last couple of years. He performed the single, "Will I See You Again," which he re-recorded for the new album, at the Fillmore in Charlotte, NC, when he was declared the winner of last year's Belk Modern Musician Showcase, which landed him a spot on their tour. Christian Lopez Band has also opened for both Zac Brown Band and Dave Matthews Band, along with a stint on the Vans Warped Tour.
"We bought an old RV, ripped out the seats and put in bunks," says Christian, whose father often served as the tour manager and van driver. "I want to be on the road touring for the foreseeable future."
Christian is committed to following his muse wherever it takes him. In the final, elegiac "Goodbye," he quotes Bob Dylan in an interview he happened to catch one night on 60 Minutes, talking about the personal sacrifices a performer must make to achieve a goal, "the back end of a deal you made yourself."
"That line really connected with me," explains Christian. ""It's a sad, but necessary thing to say goodbye to that way of life, being a carefree kid to embark on a mission you have to, and want to, accomplish."
To that degree, ONWARD expresses that pressure to keep on keeping on, writing, singing, performing
"I try to take each day as it comes, and make the most out of it," concludes Lopez. "But I have long-range goals, too It's always been my dream to play a new place every night. I'd really love for people all over the world to listen to this record, to enjoy and relate to the songs."
For the Christian Lopez Band, everything from here is ONWARD.
About Grace & Tony:
When husband-and-wife duo Grace & Tony began writing songs for their new album, Phantasmagoric, they didn't plan on crafting 10 tracks that sound as if they belong in a macabre Broadway musical. But these dramatic tales of plagues, serial killers, mass suicide, Frankenstein's nameless creation and similar subjects are so inherently theatrical, they'd be right at home in a Sondheim or Brecht-Weill classic.
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Embracing literary influences from Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft to Stephen King, the duo blend history and fiction into songs that share equally vivid plot and musical twists. They call their style "Southern gothic" a fitting term for music made by a pair raised in Loretto, TN, "the last town before you get to Alabama," according to Tony White. The couple still lives there 90 miles from Nashville, but less than 30 from Sheffield, AL, aka Muscle Shoals, where they recorded the album at Jimmy Nutt's Nutthouse Recording Studio. Nutt was recommended by Tony's brother, John Paul, who lives in "the Shoals" (Florence, actually).
Grace and Tony didn't know one another growing up, but managed to fall under similar musical spells. Tony, of course, wanted to be a musician just like his older brother (who would later gain fame in the Civil Wars). Through John Paul, he got exposed to hard rock music. "He played me my first Pantera album," Tony recalls. "It was lots of heavy rock influence."
Grace also admits going into "metal kid mold" for a while; after middle school, she'd practice on the sly the Metallica riffs she heard in her uncle's album collection. It might have been a far cry from the guitar style her grandfather taught her as a young child, but he made a huge impact, too. After his death when she was a high school freshman, she turned to writing poetry and songs.
Though she grew up in a Southern Baptist family, Grace insists her parents weren't overly strict. Her mother read Poe to her as a baby, and did so again when she couldn't sleep during a bout of mononucleosis. "Mom was the one who introduced me to mystery books, and then murder mysteries," Grace recalls. "I started with her collection of Nancy Drew and then moved to Elizabeth Peters (aka Barbara Michaels) because of mom. We also watched Poirot mysteries and 'Sherlock Holmes' and old horror and monster films."
But it was her grandfather who had encouraged her to pursue medicine. And when she wound up working in a nursing home as part of a high school class, much to her surprise, she loved it. That led to nursing studies, which certainly raises the question of whether her lyrics are a manifestation of a rather strong attraction to, well, gore.
"I think it's a personality thing that qualifies a person to want to care for people and be interested in the blood and guts part, too," she answers. "I've never really thought about it; I just enjoy helping people.
"I do have limits," she adds with a laugh. "If they started sawing or drilling into somebody, I might keel right over, even though my songs sound like I would enjoy that!"
Yes, they do. Take "Invitation to an Autopsy," for instance. Grace's crisp, distinct lyrics and mandolin enfold cello and other strings as she narrates the "Sweeney Todd"-like true story of Messrs. Burke and Hare, a pair of pre-Victorian-era gents who sold corpses for use in anatomy classes corpses they created from living humans.
"Adam of Labour" takes the perspective of Frankenstein's nameless creation. Tony's clear baritone drives that melody (he also plays guitars and keyboards), aided by Grace's mandolin and strings by bandmates Kimi Samson (first and second violin and viola) and Chris Wilson (cello, basses and sitar), who arranged the album's intentionally dominant strings.
Tony says the dramatic "Lullaby of the Red Death," influenced by Poe, suggested ebola to Grace. She says she envisioned "a post-apocalyptic world where things are simple again and a mother is singing to her newborn baby, telling it that they were going to die because of this disease, and she feels like God is punishing her because she cast out the baby's sister from fear of contracting it."
"The Marsten Prologue" and "A Lot Dies Today" are based on King's book, "Salem's Lot." The album's first single, "The 1," tells a story of their own imagining, about a girl and her stalker, whom she decides she wants to meet. "The 2" revisits the 1997 mass suicide known as Heaven's Gate.
There is some leavening, however. They tell their love story in "072713," their wedding date. It's a follow-up of sorts to their 2013 album, November, which was released on the anniversary of their first date which came about when Tony, after meeting her and becoming infatuated, invited her via Facebook to jam with him. They took songs he performed with his previous punk band and rendered them as acoustic versions.
That started their merger of punk and bluegrass, which evolved into the classically based, yet rootsy sound they've created for Phantasmagoric (a favorite word of Poe's to mean "out of this world"). They describe it as "theatrical, dark and epic." Their friend Andy Baxter, of Penny and Sparrow, quipped, "It's like if Tim Burton had a folk band." Except Phantasmagoric is far more orchestral than folk, even though it owes its storytelling sensibilities to folk and bluegrass traditions.
"I think a lot of that comes from Grace being such a fan of English murder mysteries and getting in that mindset, that regal sound," says Tony. "When you're writing a dark story, pairing it with something classical and proper makes it even darker.
"We wanted to make something that was truly different," he adds. "Something memorable. We really wanted to blaze trails and make music that we would enjoy, with lots of layers, that would be as pleasing to the mind as it is to the ear."
They attribute their success at realizing that vision in part to Nutt, who co-produced with Tony.
"He really pushed our limits and got the most out of us," says Tony; that included putting the whole band together in the studio to give the album its very-much-live feel.
As for the album's cover photo a pair of sinister-looking children standing before a dilapidated house that's actually the home of Grace's late grandmother, whom she calls "one of the most important people in my life." Her uncle is repairing it; they still hold holiday gatherings there, and know she's there with them, Grace says.
Perhaps her spirit will permeate the pages of their upcoming book, "Grace & Tony's Phantasmagoric Stories, which will feature tales from each song illustrated by U.K. tattoo artist Nick Devine. Or maybe she'll show up in their next album, which they hope to turn into an actual theatrical production. In a perfect world, they'd get to hook up with King, Burton, or another of Grace's heroes, who include "Science Guy" Bill Nye and composers Hans Zimmer and Danny Elfman. Not that she intends to give up her nursing shifts should that level of success arrive.
"It makes me feel good to make a difference in someone's life, or to save a life," she says. "To be there for a person when no one else is."
Of course, it also provides inspiration for Phantasmagoric songs songs intended to make listeners question everything they've ever known, to remind them, say Grace & Tony, "to think, smile, laugh and even cry," and most of all "to dream the wonderful way you dreamed when you were a child."
See you at the show!
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LocationThe Shepherdstown Opera House (View)
131 W German St
Shepherdstown, WV 25443
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: Yes! |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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