We’ve just announced our second Summer Concert Series show! It will be a Local Music Festival with Badfish and Zox at Providence Piers on July 19th! Joining them will be past WBRU Rock Hunt Finalists Hello Mahalo and Someday Provience along with Scotty Don’t. Tickets will go on sale Friday at noon, and they’ll be available here and at etix.com. Check back here for more updates on our upcoming Local Music Festival!

WBRU kicked off its 2008 Summer Concert Series with headline act Death Cab For Cutie on May 9th. The concert was scheduled to be held at the Providence Piers, but due to inclement weather, it had to be moved to Brown University’s Meehan Auditorium.

Before Death Cab took the stage, Amanda Palmer, the better half of the Dresden Dolls, warmed up the crowd with her percussive piano and signature vocals. The highlight of the performance, however, consisted of Amanda busting out a Ukulele and playing an excellent acoustic version of Radiohead’s “Creep.”

After a quick set change, Ben Gibbard and his traveling troupe appeared on stage amidst rollicking cheers and began with a quiet but pulsating version of “Bixby Canyon Bridge,” followed by an unflagging performance of “New Year.” A uniform melancholy prevailed throughout the show, but the songs from the upcoming album Narrow Stairs lent a distinctly different flavor. Often starting with long instrumental introductions, the new songs had an unfamiliar sense of gravity. This new dark sound found its best expression in the band’s single release “I Will Possess Your Heart.” However, much of the creepiness of the new CD was overshadowed during the concert by Ben Gibbard’s energetic air and Chris Walla’s soaring solos.

The band played an eclectic set that included songs from every album they’ve released, but the pieces that pleased the crowd the most were all nearly off of Death Cab’s major label debut Plans. “Soul Meets Body” got the most cheers while the first notes of “I Will Follow You Into The Dark” induced many to pull out their cameras to record this memorable moment, making the crowd light up in a sea of camera displays. The inviting but all too satisfied crowd then went on to request an encore and got it: The band played 6 additional songs and finished their impressive set with “Transatlanticism.” Read More

Listen to WBRU tonight at midnight (technically, that’s Friday morning) to hear the entire new Death Cab for Cutie album, Narrow Stairs! And pick up the last of the tickets to our Concert Series with Death Cab; they’ll be on sale online at midnight for $25.

Due to high chances of severe weather on Friday, May 9th, our concert with Death Cab for Cutie and Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls will be moved to Meehan Auditorium, at 235 Hope St. on the east side of Providence. (on Brown University’s campus, by the corner of Bowen St.) Get a map to the venue here. Doors @ 5 p.m., Show @ 6 p.m. (All Ages)

Tickets are SOLD OUT.

Local musicians, want to open for one of the WBRU Summer Concert Series shows? WBRU and BandStandLive are giving you your chance!

Submit your band’s entry at bandstandlive.com. Talent will be chosen by both BandStandLive and WBRU.

BandStandLive is New England’s premier band practice facility located at 391 West Water St in Taunton, MA. BandStandLive - Play. Create. Rock out.

The Rustic Overtones came into the studio a few weeks ago and sang their song “Letter to the President” off their most recent album, Light at the End. After their performance, they talked to Lyra about their thoughts, intentions, and influences in writing the song. The song is a fictional story centred around a lonely soldier, with no intended political stance. The band also discussed war, their development and changes since their previous album, staying together forever, and possible acronyms for their band name.

Click on the link below to hear their live performance and the discussion that followed!

Click here to listen

Tommy Gardner, Eddy Maher, and Paul Giammarco of Rock Hunt Finalists Someday Providence dropped by the studio before the Rock Hunt finals two weeks ago and talked to Lyra. They discussed the abbreviation, SP, of their band name and being played on (and being on) MTV shows. They also talked about their MySpace page, on which they had been posting some rather interesting video diaries of themselves in their studio. The band even tried to do some shout-outs to local Rhode Island bands and then joked about being paid to do it. Their new 7-song album comes out May 24th.

Check out the full interview below!

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The Bravery plays a show not to be missed. If you are one of those lazy “chumps” who didn’t get down to Lupo’s Thursday night, you should have and (you can quote me on this) that is exactly what you are. I don’t care if you had work Friday morning, and apparently neither did the crowd that packed Lupo’s.

I made sure to get there early to see local groups Penrose and Senior Discount. Going indoors at six sucks. Hugely. I know. But that’s the price we pay during the spring/summer, and it’s definitely worth it for the music. Moving into the summer, and in the interest of still seeing the best shows around, we would do best to keep that in mind.

I had Penrose in the studio last week for an interview on HomeBRU’d, so having gotten to know the guys, I was glad to see that they didn’t disappoint in concert. “Slight of Hand”, the almost-overwhelming opener for their recently released album Azimuth, went off without a hitch, but it was “Angels and Monikers” that I found most impressive. If you get to one of Penrose’s shows (and you should), instead of being that arse in the audience that keeps shouting “Freebiiiird!” (and gets punched in the face by the lead guitarist), I suggest you request “Angels and Monikers”. Like Penrose, the song performed live has teeth. Read More

This past week, Penrose dropped by the station to select the songs for Home Bru’d, answer caller’s questions, and joke around with DJ Shepherd. They discussed their song choices, their concert last night, where they opened for The Bravery at Lupo’s, their marketing strategies, and the making of their song “Slight of Hand.” They were also, in the words of DJ Shepherd, “out of control.” Penrose claimed to be one of the world’s tallest bands, talked about playing Guitar Hero songs at a recent concert, held a moment of silence for Elisha Cuthbert, and challenged DJ Shepherd to a fight.

Click on the link to listen to this highly entertaining interview!

Click here to listen

Last week, Rock Hunt 2008 winners It Was the Best of Times stopped by the studio and took over the airwaves for Home BRU’d. DJ Shepherd interviewed them about how they felt about winning the Rock Hunt, how the band wrote their three singles, and what they thought of the other Rock Hunt bands. They shared the love and played songs by Rock Hunt semifinalists The Coming Weak and finalists Someday Providence, and played songs off of their new EP “Hot Blood,” which is due out in the next month or two. They also very articulately responded to questions about how people might associate them with Paramore. Aside from superficial similarities - having a female singer and fitting into the broad genre of alt-rock - they explained that their music was very different, in writing style, dynamics, and complexity. Check out the interview below, and listen to a few of their songs at myspace.com/itwasthebestoftimes. Click here to see more pictures!

Click here to listen

WBRU’s Rock Hunt at The Living Room on Friday night was quite an experience. DJ Shepherd and I started the night with a long and ill-advised walk all the way from the station in East Providence to The Living Room. Having never traveled there on foot before, we became a bit confused as to which direction was which, and found ourselves off-track on numerous occasions, often discovering that we were amid abandon buildings where the sketchy factor was exponential.

After this adventure of sorts, we found ourselves at the Living Room right in time to greet the bands and watch Awesome Brothers take the stage. They had already set up a screen onstage, and as we wondered what it was for, a video began depicting band members Luke and Ashleigh dressed in lab coats and goggles. Ashleigh talked incessantly, and Luke “vomited” spaghetti into her ear. The video was an appropriate precursor to what would prove to be a strange, yet strangely appealing, set that was very reminiscent of an Of Montreal concert. Videos flew by on the screen in time to the beat, all with a quirky-retro emphasis. Luke and Ashleigh put on an increasingly entertaining performance, complete with skilled used of a synthesizer, drum machine and keyboard. Their singing fit the music perfectly and sounded great, and Luke’s guitar complemented the sound well. The result was a show that was fun to watch and music that was more than appropriate for dancing. Read More