The good folks at Daytrotter have been taking their new music discovery ethos on the road for four years now, but 2011 marks just the second time their tour has made its way through Illinois. When their Barnstormer III tour stopped by the Kalyx Center in Monticello for the first time last April, the party got so crazy the floor of the barn was literally moving – so much so, the owners had to ask the guests to tone their dance steps down a bit.
Hopefully the floor can hold up for Barnstormer IV.
Friday April 29 the tour will swing through the Kalyx Center, which, according to the Barnstormer page on Daytrotter, has quickly become one of the group’s favorite barns in the world. Daytrotter founder, Sean Moeller, explained why he fell so hard for the barn last year.
“It’s kind of spooky out there…there’s kind of a creepy old house next to the barn, that someone obviously live in, but you can’t understand how anyone could live there. Then the barn is incredible. It’s beautiful, old and just so intimate. It feels like everyone is right on top of each other, with hay lofts on both sides. It makes a really cool experience. I think a lot of people at that show felt like they had never been closer to the music than they were that night, and that’s at the heart of what I want these shows to be,” he said.
The bands on this year’s bill don’t have the same name recognition as those who played last year (Ra Ra Riot, Delta Spirit, Free Energy), but the six bands booked offer an evening more fitting of the Daytrotter mission of new music discovery. Moeller commented their collective energy will give the music a different feeling than last time the tour came to town.
“We walked away last year asking, ‘How do you top that?’” he said. “I think we went in a little different direction. Not that it will be less high-energy or different in a bad way. There’s just more upbeat stuff on this tour, a lot of feel good music. There was a lot of somberness, a lot of tension and release…I love listening to that stuff more than anything. What we have is a little more joyful stuff, I feel like the energy and spirit of the night is going to be a bit of a twist on what it was last time.”
Norwegian songwriter Sondre Lerche is, arguably, the most recognizable act on the Barnstormer 4 bill. He is touring in advance of his sixth album, a self-titled effort due in June on his new label Mona Records.
Also booked is New York-based Guards, whose primary songwriter, Richie Follin, maybe best known for supporting Cults and being the brother of Cults singer Madeline Follin. With Guards Follin has created a similar 60s pop revival sound of his sister’s band, but added his own dirty, early indie sound to the fold, allowing for separation from Cults comparisons.
The Romany Rye, singer/songwriter Luke MacMaster’s latest full band project, will bring their Americana/folk rock grooves to Monticello as well. Though not widely known, The Romany Rye has been well received by the blogoshere; HearYa described them as a band to fill the void left by Ryan Adams’ current hiatus from music – high praise, to be sure.
Also appearing are ARMS, featuring Todd Goldstein of now-defunct Harlem Shakes; Keegan DeWitt, named one of Paste Magazine’s 10 best solo artists of 2010; and the Austin, Texas country quintet, Mike and the Moonpies.
Each band (except Guards) has a session available for free downloading or streaming on Daytrotter.com. Guards will be playing in-store at Any Frequency in Monticello before performing at the Kalyx Center.
Though Monticello marks the fourth stop of five on the Barnstormer IV tour, there is no chance the show will be any less exciting than the first or the final night of the tour. If history is any indicator, Friday might be the best night of the whole tour.
“There aren’t many shows that you can go to where you feel like every single damn person walked away really, really happy they were there that night,” Moeller said. “Of the 240 people that were there last year, I don’t think anybody walked away thinking, ‘Eh, that was okay.’”