One and the same. The full sp...
On Monday March 26th,
WagonWheel Presents… welcomes
The Deadly Gentlemen to
The Greystones. The US five piece mix up traditional folk and punk via the medium of bluegrass. They visit the UK to take in the Celtic Connections Big Top festival and we’re delighted to bring them to Sheffield for the first time. Support comes from
The Payroll Union and
Dave Sleney. Advance tickets priced at £6 are available from
http://www.wegottickets.com/event/153482 or entry on the night will be £8. Doors open 7.30pm for an 8pm start.
***THE DEADLY GENTLEMEN***
Starting out as an experimental spoken word bluegrass band, they developed to mostly play “epic folk and grasscore”.
There are five band members: Greg Liszt (also of Crooked Still and Bruce Springsteen’s Seegar Sessions band), banjo and vocals; Stash Wyslouch, guitar and vocals; Mike Barnett, fiddle and vocals; Dominick Leslie, mandolin and vocals; and Sam Grisman, double bass and vocals.
Instead of having a lead singer, they use a nonstop orchestration of somewhat unconventional vocals, with everybody in the band doing everything they can. Expect a lot of three-part harmony singing, group shouting, really dense rhymes and an almost rap-like phrasing.
Most of the songs on their new CD are reinventions of traditional folk songs, but you might not notice that if you weren’t a big folk music enthusiast.
There’s a murder ballad (done acoustic death metal style), a song about moonshining, a rockabilly blues, and a rewrite of an old-time song about the police coming to get you. There are also a couple songs about the ups and downs of living the dream – you know, playing music.
The songs have kind of a rock ‘n’ roll feel, despite the acoustic bluegrass instrumentation. The melodies tend toward the anthemic side, and the upright bass is usually pretty in-your-face. The album does have a slight sense of humor but no real jokes, per se.
A lot of the songs’ lyrics started out as miniature epic poems based on folk songs. That’s where the term “epic folk” comes from. The grasscore songs are the ones where everybody in the band throws caution to the wind and goes completely berserk. Kind of the punk or hardcore mentality, but applied to bluegrass.
http://www.deadlygentlemen.com/
***THE PAYROLL UNION***
Sheffield based singer/songwriter Pete David has been performing around the city for several years. During the last couple of years the full band line up took shape, and as the line up has slimmed down to a three piece, so too did the name to simply The Payroll Union. The band combine elements of traditional American folk and country with all the yodellin’, stompin’, parpin’, pickin’ and pluckin’ you could want for an old time good time. Debut EP ‘Underfed & Underpaid’ was recently followed up with latest release ‘Your Obedient Servant’.
“The Payroll Union are all suited and bearded and, while playing their acoustic murder ballads, could be seen as a bunch of Southern, God-fearin’, gun-totin’ brothers. The songs are peppered with exhortations to the Lord, whisky, hanging, heartbreak and evil deeds. Pete’s vocal delivery veers from hushed whispers to impassioned sermons and, similarly, the music changes on a dime from reverential faithfolk to uptempo secular hoedown and back again.” Counterfeit Magazine
http://thepayrollunion.com/
***DAVE SLENEY***
Singer/songwriter Dave Sleney has played in various bands over the years, most recently The Enquiry. As well as the country tinged indie pop sounds of his former band, Dave is renowned for heartfelt material in the downbeat singer/songwriter tradition. Also known for not being afraid to chuck in the odd classic cover.
http://www.reverbnation.com/davesleney
Facebook Event page:
http://www.facebook.com/events/266387796761530
Last.fm page:
http://www.last.fm/event/3180927
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