With school, work, family and so much turkey for eatin’ (or tofurkey if you please), who has the time to find out about the best shows happening in Champaign-Urbana? No need to fear, because the editors at Smile Politely have taken care of it.
What: For Great Justice, Breath, Brother Embassy
When: Friday Nov. 27
Where: Mike N Molly’s
Really great metal needs a subtle twist of irony to avoid being stamped as, well, goofy metal. Look no further than Champaign’s own For Great Justice who favors more of your classic metal than recent incarnations. Influences? Check. They toss a little Maiden, Sabbath and Rush in the lot with stuff like Smashing Pumpkins. Scary and/or campy imagery? Check. Peep their MySpace page for a sweet layout featuring dragons and castles and wizards and stuff. Sense of humor? Check. Check out their sweet cover of the Transformers theme song in traditional metal fashion on the aforementioned MySpace. Maybe the only thing they’re missing is awesome metally, middle English or pseudo-Viking stage names. Oh, wait, they got those, too! Don’t miss your chance to see the boys (Jessup Tuhbruhndebrak, Mattue Floggudhr, Keiff Strathomaere, D’vidian Varsdottr) in action Friday night. Don’t forget to grab your black t-shirts and polish your Dio devil horns.
What: Slow Intentional Damage, Scathe, Pound for Pound, Ten Ton Halo
When: Saturday Nov. 28
Where: Canopy Club, $7
There is something about a town like Danville that breeds metal. It is only natural that a band from there, in this case, Slow Intentional Damage, would join forces with a record label called Turkey Vulture Records. Their debut on TVR is still forthcoming as the icing on their long-baking cake, but the band has been touring nationally for years and (s)laying a solid foundation of fans coast to coast. As to be expected, their sound fuses multiple genres aside from standard metal (funk, classic rock, etc), but their self-penned description screams metal to the core: “furious guitar solos, relentless drumming, and in-your-face power groove breakdowns.” The bill is rounded out by other local metal heavyweights, so hopefully you’ll have time to spot clean the beer and blood stains you got from Mike N Molly’s the night before off your black t-shirt.
What: Kayla Brown, G. Lee, Angie Heaton
When: Sunday Nov. 29
Where: Mike N Molly’s
Once a local staple, but now a transplant living in Tennessee, Kayla Brown has graced C-U’s stages with acts like Feaze, Desdemona and Darling Disarm. She returns Sunday night as she often does with a host of delicate acoustic acts with distinctly Midwestern melodies. Performing since she was six years old and composing originals since she was eleven, Kayla Brown jumped ship to Nashville a little more than a year ago, but has remained true to her Urbana roots returning frequently to play with the still active Darling Disarm. Nashville is doing her good (which means Nashville will do us good) and she picked up a few more instruments including ukulele and violin along the way. Her third solo record will be released Spring of 2010, so it wouldn’t be unlikely to get a little preview Sunday night.
Know about something we don’t? Want to promote your own gig? Peep the comment section below.
Looking ahead…
11/27/09
Mike N Molly’s – For Great Justice, Breath, Brother Embassy
11/28/09
Canopy Club – Slow Intentional Damage, Scathe, Pound for Pound, Ten Ton Halo
11/29/09
Mike N Molly’s – Kayla Brown, G. Lee, Angie Heaton
12/3/09
Cowboy Monkey – J.Viewz
Canopy Club – Am Taxi, Vanattica, the 312’s, The Fireship
12/4/09
Canopy Club – Laughing Prairie Dog Festival with The Hood Internet, Santah, Smoking Popes, Pet Lions, Headlights and Common Loon
12/5/09
Canopy Club – EOTO (featuring Michael Travis and Jason Hann of String Cheese Incident)
Canopy Club – Good Luck Jane, the Least of These, the Hatters Mad (early show)
Mike N Molly’s – Laarks, My Dear Alan Andrews, and Zach May and the Maps
Courtyard Café – Icy Demons (Man Man/E6 members), Traveling By Sea
Cowboy Monkey – Snowsera
12/6/09
Canopy Club – Elmwood, Daphne Willis
12/7/09
Canopy Club – Mayday Parade, There for Tomorrow, Dangerous Summer, City Lights
12/8/09
Foellinger Auditorium – Andrew Bird
12/10/09
Mike N Molly’s – Carley Wolf and the Howls, Hathaways, Megan Johns
Canopy Club – Fall Semester Showdown with Epyrean Soul, Audiac Arrest, Akansas Dogjaw, Kilroy et al, Jet W. Lee
12/11/09
Mike N Molly’s – Sisters of Your Sunshine Vapor, TBA
Cowboy Monkey – Love Me Nots, the Hounds Below
Canopy Club – Fall Semester Showdown with Roses and Sake, Butterfly Assasins, the Withershins, Neoga Blacksmith, The Cellar Door, the Skalalatibs, Shark Bandit
12/12/09
Cowboy Monkey – Vanattica
Canopy Club – Desafinado, Bate Collago, (early show)
Canopy Club – Fall Semester Showdown with Worlds First Flying Machine, Zach May and The Maps, Heyokas, Hot Cops and On Again Off Again
12/17/09
Canopy Club – Bob Priscilla and Friends, Chicago Farmer, You and Yourn, My Dear Alan Andrews
12/18/09
Mike N Molly’s – White Elephant song exchange
Cowboy Monkey – The Delta Kings
Canopy Club – Emberic, Deliver the Fallen, Leproso, TBA
12/19/09
Mike N Molly’s – Neoga Blacksmith
12/22/09
Assembly Hall – The Oak Ridge Boys
12/26/09
Canopy Club – Pamela Machala, Liesel Booth, Megan Johns and Tristan Cogswell (early show)
Canopy Club – Victory Over Tyranny, Konspiracy, Icon 4 Hire, Less Than and Salinate
Canopy Club – Greenwood, Dari, Bisbee
12/31/09
Mike N Molly’s – New Years Eve with New Ruins
Cowboy Monkey – New Years Eve Dubstep Massacre
1/16/10
Mike N Molly’s – The Satin Peaches, On Again Off Again, TBA
Canopy Club – Verdict, Vanattica, Overcome, Trash City Rockers
1/22/10
Canopy Club – The Gold Motel, TBA
1/23/10
Mike N Molly’s – Jared Bartman, Good Night and Good Morning, TBA
1/24/10
Krannert Center – Maxwell Street Klezmer Band
Krannert Center – Kronos Quartet, Wu Man
1/29/10
Canopy Club – Keller Williams
1/31/10
Canopy Club – The Prairie Ensemble: The Soldier’s Tale
2/6/10
Mike N Molly’s – White Mystery, Stranger Waves, TBA
2/9/10
Krannert Center – The Band of the Irish Guards
2/11/10
Krannert Center – Frederica Von Stade
2/25/10
Krannert Center – Moscow State Radio Symphony Orchestra
2/27/10
Cowboy Monkey – The Lesser Birds of Paradise, World’s First Flying Machine, Carl Hauck, My Dear Alan Andrews
3/2/10
Krannert Center – Abraham Inc.
3/5/10
Assembly Hall – Martina McBride, Trace Adkins
3/16/10
Krannert Center – Danu
3/18/10
Krannert Center – San Francisco Symphony
3/30/10
Krannert Center – What it Is! Featuring Mavis Staples, Booker T. JJ Grey
4/10/2010
Krannert Center – Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra
4/15/10
Krannert Center – Joshua Bell
4/24/10
Krannert Center – James Farm
5/5/10
Krannert Center – Ozomatli