It’s that time again, that part of mid January when First Avenue, along with Radio K, chooses bands that are hot on the local scene and invite them to play a showcase in the mainroom. Luckily this year it’s on a Friday, instead of what has been a typical weeknight booking for years. It’s always a good time for catching up with the bands that stood out over the course of the past year or being introduced to a performer or group that has managed slip right under your radar. This Reveille staffer gets in way over her head to bring you this assortment of summaries, questions and answers from the talented performers involved in this week’s showcase.

Meet the musicians:

Mouthful of Bees

Mouthful of Bees - Courtesy Afternoon Records

What is the story of your band? Officially, how long have you been playing together and how did you meet?

The story is nothing VH1-worthy. We all met in high school, just playing in bands around Minneapolis. We've been playing for about a year and a half, officially. Friends that play music comin' together to make music for ourselves and our friends. Good times. Shred the gnar.

What upcoming projects or shows, other than this showcase, do you have coming up that you are excited to tell our readers about?

We're going to record an album this summer and we're pretty excited about it. It's going to be really different and a lot less rushed and more focused overall than our first record.

We'd like to release some smaller thing between now and then maybe. Something we make ourselves, like in a run of 125 or something.

What do you consider to be your greatest inspiration to create music and share it with people?

Personally, I (Chris) am inspired to make music by our friends that make music here. The boundaries of what is possible are constantly receding, and music is everywhere. Seeing how music can affect people and how much power it has, being open to all sounds, all noise, listening always, is the only inspiration I know.

The listener tends to put his or her own spin on what a band sounds like. How would you personally describe your sound?

I wouldn't. Just listen. "Independent Rock" is everything now.

Everyone and their mother would love to play First Avenue. If you could play a show anywhere, in any time period, where would it be?

First Avenue, Jan. 18th, 2007.

A Night in the Box

From the first time I heard A Night in the Box’s song “The Hustle,” with its striking vocal harmonies from frontmen Clayton Hagen and Travis Hetman, I was hooked. Their sound involves loud, deep-bodied guitar hooks, is steeped in the blues and bluegrass, but still maintains a very modern feel with their meld of very traditional influences. They have been woefully overlooked by the hometown masses for truly being the powerhouse that they are. That is, until now.

What is the story of your band? Officially, how long have you been playing together and how did you meet?

Officially, we played our first show on March 15th 2006 and Clayton and I (Travis) had been accidentally writing the first wave of songs a few months earlier.  We were high school pals and soon after writing a few songs, drummer Alex Dalton joined.  He was also a high school friend.  We recorded our first album in Nov 2006 and the next month we were playing with a violinist named Kailyn Spencer (who Travis knew during high school.)  She added the final touch we needed to get to the sound we currently have.  Although the songs on our first album are documented the way they are known to people on the album, many of the songs have found their resolution with her accompaniment.  None of us would ever have imagined we would end up playing in this band together or that we would make the kind of music we have made but there you have it.    

As a newer group on the local scene, have you gained recognition or had any experience with your music outside of it?

Yes.  As I mentioned, we had songs before we ever planned to play in a band and we have been playing catch up ever since.  Along the way we have been really surprised by the recognition we have received from people in the Twin Cities and the reception in other places has likewise been surprising and encouraging.  As soon as we had a grip of songs and realized that we really had something that we felt good about, we joined up with Afternoon Records.  I think that Afternoon certainly helped with much of the recognition—specifically with that reaching past our circle of friends in the cities—that we have received.  We are still a new band certainly, and one that many do not know about yet but those that do have made shows and what we are doing more fun than we ever imagined.

What upcoming projects or shows, other than this showcase, do you have coming up that you are excited to tell our readers about?

As far as shows go, we are really excited about a few:  The City Scene Music Festival 2/09/08 at the Barfly, Roma Di Luna on Feb 15th at Lee’s Liquor Lounge, and also a show with just us and Charlie Parr on March 22 at Lee’s where we may just alternate sets and possibly collaborate a bit too.  The thing that we are most excited about is recording our second album with Afternoon Records which we hope to release some time in the spring.  There are songs that we have been playing at shows for far too long and we can’t wait to get them on a record.

What do you consider to be your greatest inspiration to create music and share it with people?

Our friends and the people that fill up our daily lives are certainly the main inspiration.  There is obviously a list of bands we could go through and cite as influences too but our friends and family and discovering our music with each other have been the greatest inspiration.  There is something very important about live music too, and growing up in the Twin Cities and seeing such good live music has also led us to value the live show.  The energy that happens is something we certainly draw inspiration from, something that gives purpose to making music.   

The listener tends to put his or her own spin on what a band sounds like. How would you personally describe your sound?

This question has been asked many times and we never get any better at answering it.  We are the result of a very diverse set of influences and I think the closest thing that we’ve heard was when Chris Riemenschneider described our music as sounding like, “Jack White plays Tom Waits songs with Ralph Stanley’s band.”  That will give people a pretty good idea of what we do.

Everyone and their mother would love to play First Avenue. If you could play a show anywhere and in any time period, where would it be?

Brown County Jamboree, Bean Blossom, Indiana 1966 

M.anifest

The minute that M.anifest’s track “Babylon Breakdown” hits your ears, instant fandom ensues. Kwame Tsikata, the Ghana-born, Minnesota based rapper released his album Manifestations last year, and it was nothing short of a revelation. Its highly stylized construction and socially conscious hip-hop worldview is a welcome addition to this year’s show and is destined to be one of the standout performances of Friday night.

What is your story? Officially, how long have you been performing?

Born and raised in Ghana, West Africa, I was just that kid that spent my days kicking it outside the house, reading, or exploring some other interest in solitude rather than playing video games. Life as I know it now was completely different from what it was back then - We had one television channel, only A.M radio (before Ghana became democratic in the '90s), no washing machines, and a whole bunch of dusty roads and pick-up soccer. Music was always prevalent – everywhere and with everyone! – from when the cock crows to way after sunset. From naming ceremonies to funerals, it's a spiritual and social part of our African expression. I never learned music formally. I just imbibed the vibes from a whole bunch of music and became a hip-hop head real early in my childhood. It reached me on many levels especially the way you could channel different musical aesthetics and experiences to make Hip-Hop. It knew no bounds and called to me because of the obvious African elements that birth it. I joined my first rap crew in high school. Was performing then. Took a hiatus and did a few performances here and then when I came to college. Took it to a whole level of seriousness and dedication about two and a half years ago and there has been no turning back since.

As a newer artist on the local scene, have you gained recognition or had any experience with your music outside of it?

Yeah, I've always been global-minded since I come from that immigrant viewpoint. I threw a free outdoor show in Ghana in 2006 while waiting for a visa for the U.S. Had all the cats from my hood there and excited as well as a lot of the hip-hop (and Hip-Life) luminaries in Ghana in attendance – including the cat that started it all in Ghana – Reggie Rockstone. I performed at the shrine in Harlem, NYC as well. I’m getting ready to do a whole bunch of out of town dates in February through April. Also I have had the single from Manifestations, "Gentleman" getting major radio play in Ghana since late '06 till date. I've been on africanhiphop.com's playlists a number of times as well. Also Jarkata records (distributed by Groove Attack) is getting ready to release a 12" of 3 tracks from Manifestations and an exclusive vinyl-only track in Europe and Japan. So I guess I’ve been fortunate to be getting some good national and international attention.

M.anifest

What upcoming projects or shows, other than this showcase, do you have coming up that you are excited to tell our readers about?

I have an upcoming project, "Coming to America" capturing more of the thoughts and experiences of me and my folks. It's a real exciting one cause I made that mundane concept from the Eddie Murphy flick into a personalized one – both lyrically and musically. Look out for sexual chocolate! I have a series of shows lined up in '08 with the "Coming to America" theme. The first one is at 7th Street Entry with Krukid (Rawkus Records) and Muja Messiah. Two Africans and Muja – it's going to be real dope!

What do you consider to be your greatest inspiration to create music and share it with people?

I keep my music one-hundred percent real to life, and lyrically put, "I represent Africa with a spectacular street vernacular." So life, as me and my peoples know it, is enough inspiration in itself to drop 100 LPs with interesting material. I'm also inspired by music that makes me wanna quit or step my game up. Gets me amped when I hear some fresh piece of music that gets the rewind-selectah treatment. I'm especially inspired by having uneasy moments in life – I channel that straight away into some music.

The listener tends to put his or her own spin on what a band sounds like. How would you personally describe your sound?

It’s music. Hip-Hop. A soulful expression of the traveling African experience. It'll keep evolving but always be attached to my African way of seeing this.

Everyone and their mother would love to play First Avenue. If you could play a show anywhere, in any time period, where would it be?

March 6^th, 1957: Accra Ghana, Independence Square - In front of hundreds of thousands of my kinfolk on Ghana's Independence Day. 'Twas a breath-taking moment from what I gather.