Zig At The Gig podcast

Interview with Allen and Barb Vest of Double Vee.

Allan was the primary songwriter, lead vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist for indie/orchestral pop band Starlight Mints, producing and releasing four albums between 2000 and 2009, with legendary producer Dave Sardy co-producing the critically acclaimed debut album, The Dream that Stuff was Made Of. Major motion pictures and television series have utilized his music, with TV shows including Malcolm in the Middle, Californication, One Tree Hill and Gossip Girl and movies including Barnyard, Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj and The Art of Getting By. The BBC mini-series Demons effectively used "Eyes of the Night" off the 2006 album Drowaton as the series' theme song. Allan's instrumental scores have been featured in Disney animated shorts, writer/director Mickey Reece's movies Seducers Club and Punch Cowboy, and in projects by Canada-based writer/director Erahm Christopher and features helmed by award-winning director Bradley Beesley among other productions. Allan has produced and arranged music for clients including Francine, Skating Polly, Student Film and Bishop Allen. He also composed the theme music for the podcast In Sickness and In Health with Dr. Céline Gounder.  

Barb’s diverse background includes sixteen years in public radio where her achievements included writing, hosting, and producing Filmscapes, a nationally syndicated film music program. She edited a music webzine for several years and marketed and produced eight garage sale/shows featuring local bands and merchants. While Barb’s vocal music history includes appearing in themed cover shows and providing backing vocals on recordings for local bands, her love of music began with her family, with her grandmother regularly putting a tape recorder on her piano bench and singing along to her original compositions, before she passed away after a sudden heart attack at the age of 57.  Barb grew up singing around the piano with her mother and sister.  She enjoyed writing poetry and short stories during her younger years and loves exploring the inventive worlds of lyrics and songwriting with Allan. 

When they're not creating new music, Allan and Barb enjoy working with clients…teaching, recording, producing music and videos and more. In their free time, they like to travel, watch movies, hike, and spend time with friends and family. Favorite hiking trails include Angels Landing at Zion National Park, Precipice Trail at Acadia National Park and the Cape Lookout Trail in Oregon. They love concocting meals in the kitchen together and especially savor making Caesar salads at home and trying them anytime they're on the menu at a new restaurant. They’re grateful to be producing music and appreciate the support of their listeners. 

http://doubleVee.net.

Interview with Arad Evans of The Whimbrels.

The Whimbrels is an outer-borough masterpiece. The sound is dense, polyrhythmic, hard, and sweet, hooks and riffs to save your soul pop out at unexpected moments. The players’ credits--The Glenn Branca Ensemble (dating to the 1980s), The Swans, J. Mascis--predict the guitar- driven, sonic onslaught of The Whimbrels, captured on their startling debut. A Whimbrels show involves racks of guitars, tuned in different and unconventional ways with the players constantly switching between them. The Whimbrels album showcases this. There are counterpoint choirs, dueling e-bows phase against each other, chunking, poly- and cross- rhythmic interludes, soaring arias of distortion from Westberg and Evans’ strangely melodic and inventive guitar. Evans’ and Hunter’s vocals front a three-guitar line up tuned every way but normal. The ax men are veterans with contrasting styles that come together in a potent whole. The beats are smart and unrelenting. The album concludes with the instrumental Four Moons of Galileo, four short sections with the inner two framed by shimmering walls of descending, slowly evolving harmonies. The title recalls the four moons discovered by Galileo, suggesting the many more then lurking unknown in space.

ARAD EVANS (guitar, vox, primary songwriter) was a member, recorded and toured with Glenn Branca’s ensemble from the 1980’s until Branca’s death a few years ago. He is founder and still performs with Heroes of Toolik. In addition to Branca, he has played with Quiet City, Rhys Chatham, Ben Neill, John Myers’ Blastula, The SEM Ensemble, The New Music Consort, Virgil Moorefield’s Ensemble and many other groups. “A truly inventive and surprising guitar player.” (Rick Moody, The Rumpus Aug. 25, 2016).

www.thewhimbrels.com

Facebook: The Whimbrels

Instagram: the_whimbrels

Interview with : Robert Scheffler

Songwriter, singer and guitarist Robert Scheffler has been called a “songwriter’s writer” and

Interview with Chris Stamey.

Chris Stamey began writing and playing music in grade school in Winston-Salem, NC, in the

currently tours as a member of Jody Stephens’s Big Star Quintet, whose line-up includes Mike

songkick.com/artists/186319-chris-stamey

Interview with Bennet Cerven of The Trouble Notes.

Hailing from three different continents, The Trouble Notes blend folk traditions from around the world with a driving, modern energy that transports audiences on a musical journey like no other. Their signature sound, led by Bennet Cerven's virtuosic violin melodies, combined with Florian Eisenschmidt’s dynamic guitar rhythms and Julian Lardis’ powerful percussion, creates a truly immersive live experience. Having played at some of the world’s most iconic festivals—including Glastonbury, Boomtown, and Fusion Festival—their performances are not to be missed.

TICKETS for Thursday July 3RD Negative Space Cleveland OH: 

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-trouble-notes-at-negative-space-cleveland-tickets-1286009261319

The Trouble Note's Info 

https://thetroublenotes.com/

https://www.facebook.com/TheTroubleNotes/

Interview with John Leon of The Royal Arctic Institute. John returns for the third time to talk about The Royal Arctic Institute's new self titled album. 

The Royal Arctic Institute is a cinematic instrumental post-jazz group from New York City. They have been recording and releasing records since 2017. Since forming in 2016, the band has been a revolving door of different musicians comprising several different lineups. The current lineup is composed of drummer Lyle Hysen (Das Damen, Arthur Lee), guitarists John Leon (Roky Erickson, Summer Wardrobe, Abra Moore) and Chris Robertson (Elk City, James Mastro), and bassist David Motamed (Das Damen, Two Dollar Guitar, Arthur Lee, Townes Van Zandt). The band name is a reference to the fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. All four members of the Royal Arctic Institute have spent decades playing in various ensembles, working as studio musicians, backing musicians, and touring musicians.

https://www.theroyalarctic.com/

Pete Francis founding member of Dispatch returns to Zig At The Gig.

Tickets for June 13th.

Pete Francis Tickets for June 13th Winchester Lakewood OH

Long Legged Fly C-Level and Pete Francis Pre- Save Link

https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/clevel/long-legged-fly-feat-pete-francis

Pete Francis Heimbold grew up in Riverside, Connecticut, taking early influence from the reggae music of Bob Marley along with classic songwriters like Van Morrison and Joni Mitchell. While attending Middlebury College in Vermont, he connected with fellow musicians Chad Urmston and Brad Corrigan. The trio formed Dispatch, a rangy roots-inspired indie band who became a fixture of the East Coast club, festival, and jam circuits. Between 1996 and their 2002 hiatus, Dispatch released four studio albums and a live record, building a sizable audience through heavy touring and grassroots promotion. Francis stepped out in 2001 to make his solo debut with So They Say, an album that bore some resemblance to his work in Dispatch and contained several songs they had played live together. When the group officially announced their hiatus, he kicked into gear, issuing a prolific string of albums through his Dragon Crest imprint. In addition to solo releases like 2003's Untold and 2008's Iron Sea and the Cavalry, he also teamed up with Craig Dreyer for the 2006 joint album Everything is One. Meanwhile, Dispatch continued to gain new followers despite their hiatus and in 2007, they reunited for a charity concert at New York's Madison Square Garden. After a surprise sellout, two more dates were added, both of which also sold out. Francis then teamed up with fellow New Englanders Barefoot Truth for a 2009 EP, then issued his fifth solo album, The Movie We Are In, in 2010. 

Interview with Steve Short of Brahctopus and formally of Stationary Pebbles.

June 13th Pete Francis of Dispatch with C-Level, and Brahctopus at The Winchester Lakewood OH. 

Pete Francis Tickets

About Brahctopus.

Brahctopus is fronted by a ukulele-wielding vocalist with a passion for lyricism. Three unique guitarists and a keyboard wizard feed off one another for ripping solos and lifting harmonies while the bass and drums create rhythmic bliss.

The most recent release is an episodic concept album that coincides with the first volume of a graphic novel, the Proto Terrestrial Freedom Movement. Available on all streaming outlets!

www.brahctopus.com

Interview with Ryan Fletterick of Songs For An Unknown God.

Songs For An Unknown God" is the musical project of Cleveland-based folk singer-songwriter Ryan Fletterick. He is known for his evocative storytelling and stripped-down acoustic style. Ryan's music is described as a blend of confession and meditation, with songs that aim for the soul rather than the charts. Wax Mage Vinyls https://waxmage.com/products/songs-for-an-unknown-god-100-miles

Tickets June 13th Pete Francis, C-Level, Songs for Unknown God, and Brahctopus

https://www.ticketweb.com/event/pete-francis-of-dispatch-the-winchester-tickets/14338833?utm_source=AllEvents.in&utm_medium=event-discovery-platform&utm_campaign=lakewood-events&fbclid=IwY2xjawKQ0RpleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFNaG4wSG5zekhoU0ZITDU0AR4XHNyU_5f4vhFHaTeu5Qk8HJQPBDFyyIfqAFcnVraB5aAeXzWkXRxhJrucQQ_aem_bhIXCC5WaldgghTt1pS25A

Brooklyn-based goth-folk duo Charming Disaster’s upcoming album The Double—their seventh full-length release—explores the world that exists behind the one we know, featuring songs inspired by nature, mortality, magic, ritual, and literary genres ranging from science fiction to Victorian horror. The new album was co-produced by band members Ellia Bisker and Jeff Morris with longtime collaborator, recording engineer Don Godwin. All but one of the ten tracks were recorded at Tonal Park in Takoma Park, MD, with one song recorded by circus music composer Peter Bufano in Boston, MA. The Double will be released on CD, as a 12-inch colored vinyl LP, and on all digital platforms on May 16, 2025. The vinyl will be released in a 2-disc package that also includes Charming Disaster’s 2024 compilation Time Ghost, a collection of singles released over the last decade.

The Double invites listeners to step across the border of an alternate reality, where spells are cast, time travel is possible, plants are taking over civilization, and vampires lurk in the shadows. Adventures in the darkness lie beyond the threshold.

The album’s ten songs include “Black Locust,” a lullaby about mortality; “New Moon,” a magical nature ritual; “Trick of the Light,” a reimagining of Bram Stoker’s Dracula; “Time Machine,” in which Charming Disaster change the past and start over again; “Scavengers,” a walk in the woods with vultures and bones; “Beautiful Night,” a defiant response to struggles with depression; “Vitriol,” a tribute to artist Thomas Little, who turns guns into ink; “Haunted Lighthouse,” a swashbuckling sea voyage; “Gang of Two,” a true crime adventure; and “Green Things,” a love letter to what grows between the cracks (and its inevitable takeover).

The album features an array of talented collaborators. Co-producer Don Godwin, who has worked on Charming Disaster’s entire discography, contributed bass, drums, and horns as well as engineering and mixing. “Haunted Lighthouse” features Broadway percussionist Mike Dobson along with circus composer Peter Bufano, who played piano and accordion and engineered the track at Cirkestra World Headquarters in Boston, MA (with additional tracking at Tonal Park). “Scavengers” features cello recorded by Kate Wakefield of the duo Lung, who also created the string arrangement for “Beautiful Night.” Stefan Zeniuk of Gato Logo contributed saxophone to “Green Things.”

In conjunction with The Double, Charming Disaster is releasing the second edition of their “oracle deck” (similar to a Tarot deck). The Charming Disaster Oracle Deck contains 72 cards (including 12 new cards for the second edition), each representing one of the songs from Charming Disaster’s discography. The cards feature illustrations commissioned from more than thirty different artists. The deck can be used as a divination tool, or as a visual accompaniment to Charming Disaster’s music. The duo themselves use these cards in their live performances to determine the set through the element of chance.

Charming Disaster was formed by Bisker and Morris in 2012, inspired by the gothic humor of Edward Gorey and Tim Burton, the murder ballads of the American Folk tradition, and the dramatic flair of the cabaret. Together the duo write songs that tell stories about myth, magic, and mortality, using two voices to explore dark narratives and characters with a playfully macabre sensibility.

On their critically acclaimed albums Love, Crime & Other Trouble (2015), Cautionary Tales (2017), and SPELLS + RITUALS (2019), Charming Disaster explored death, crime, folklore, and the occult. On Our Lady of Radium (2022), they turned their attention to science and explored the life and discoveries of pioneering scientist Marie Curie. On Super Natural History (2023), they united the natural world and the metaphysical realm in a musical cabinet of curiosities.

The duo put out two releases in 2024: Time Ghost, an album-length collection of songs released as singles between 2013 and 2024; and Dance Me to the End of Bela Lugosi’s Lovesong, an EP of covers paying tribute to a few of the band’s influences: Leonard Cohen’s “Dance Me to the End of Love,” “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” by Bauhaus, and The Cure’s “Lovesong.”

In Charming Disaster’s live shows, the duo combine vocal harmonies and clever lyrics with ukulele, guitar, and foot percussion, with a cabaret-influenced performance style that straddles the line between concert and theatre and has been described as “haunted vaudeville” (Splice Magazine).

Charming Disaster’s music has been featured on the spooky hit podcast Welcome to Night Vale. They have opened for legendary cello-rock ensemble Rasputina, Goth icon Voltaire, and Amanda Palmer’s punk cabaret duo The Dresden Dolls. Their concerts have captivated audiences across the United States and in Europe. They have appeared alongside storytellers, comedians, fire eaters, puppets, burlesque artists, poets, and circus performers. Recent appearances have included Joe's Pub in NYC, Atlanta’s massive pop culture convention Dragon Con, Brooklyn’s historic Green-Wood Cemetery, the Rochester Fringe Festival, Philadelphia’s Science History Institute, the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond, VA, Cleveland's WizbangCircus Theatre, and the Coney Island Sideshow stage, as well as sundry bars, art galleries, theatres, bookstores, libraries, train cars, mausoleums, and museums.

LINKS:

Website: www.charmingdisaster.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/charmingdisaster

Instagram: http://instagram.com/charmingdisasterband

YouTube: http://youtube.com/charmingdisasterband

Bandcamp: http://charmingdisaster.bandcamp.com

Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/artist/1RjkfhamohczSXjFy5WcZh

The Double preorder link: charmingdisaster.bandcamp.com/album/the-double 

 Tickets : Charming Disaster at The Foundry Cleveland June 5th with Cowboy Princess Brigade

https://www.ticketweb.com/event/charming-disaster-cowboy-princess-brigade-the-foundry-tickets/14325923?utm_medium=affiliate&irgwc=1&clickid=yKYzFM2SwxycTOrRPc1Gt0d7UksRjjwhTXGA2E0&camefrom=CFC_BUYAT_219208&impradid=219208&REFERRAL_ID=tmfeedbuyat219208&wt.mc_id=aff_BUYAT_219208&utm_source=219208-Bandsintown&impradname=Bandsintown&ircid=4272

C-Level Pete Francis Tickets :

https://www.ticketweb.com/event/peter-francis-of-dispatch-the-winchester-tickets/14338833?utm_source=AllEvents.in&utm_medium=event-discovery-platform&utm_campaign=lakewood-events