Plug In With Damn' Strait

Playin' the music that gets everyone up on the dance floor

Damn' Strait is:
Randy Ford - lead vocals and frontman, Joe Nichols - bass & vocals, Reg Taylor - guitar & vocals, Joe Simon (AKA Thumper) - drums, Mark Rohloff - guitar & vocals
Hometown: Mechanicville, NY
Genre: Rock
Booking Info: stratslinger@aol.com
Website: www.damnstrait.net

Damn' Strait is a high energy, five-piece rock-and-roll group from the Mechanicville / Schaghticoke area, that performs at various clubs, parties and special events in and around the Capital District of upstate New York. The band was formed in 2002 and has been going strong ever since.

The guys are all experienced local musicians; Randy Ford is the band's front man and handles all lead vocals. He's been singing his whole life and is an accomplished and versatile vocalist. Randy's musical style has been influenced by many artists including Lynyrd Skynyrd, Pearl Jam and various country musicians. Bass player Joe Nichols calls the Glens Falls area home; he's a fan of the hard rocking bands of the 70's in addition to Skynyrd, Van Halen and Zeppelin and has been playing professionally for over fourteen years including a run with the acoustic trio Black Coffee. The band's veteran rocker, Reg Taylor, has been a part of the local music scene for forty-five years. Reg has been a member of a number of local bands including FN Jammers, Brunswick Basement Blues Band, Cardiac Arrest, the Zookeepers, Contagious and No Clue with fellow Damn' Strait members Randy Ford and Joe Simon.

Joe "Thumper" Simon is DS's drummer - and it's easy to see how he earned that nickname. He's been pounding the skins locally for close to twenty years now and tells us he's been inspired by Skynyrd, the Rolling Stones, and local blues crooner Jeff Maynard of the Maynard Brothers Band. Damn' Strait's newest member is well known local guitarist, Mark Rohloff, who has been playing for over twenty-five years with a number of bands including War Child, Black Mass, Duct Tape, Contagious, Heat and others. Mark 's style has been influenced by many rock icons including Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Rush, Van Halen and Jeff Beck.

The band is known for delivering a live show that gets everyone up on the dance floor, and if you are a fan of Classic or Modern Rock you are sure to enjoy their music. Their calendar is filled with dates at local clubs, fundraisers and special events so you're never far from their next show. Last month Damn' Strait headlined 94 Rock 's Eighth Annual Beach Party at Henderson's, which was a great success. They recently released a CD of ten covers, and you can pick up your own copy from the band at any show.

Damn' Strait will be at the Commercial Hotel on April 8th. You can check their website for a complete list of shows.

North Allen To Open For Collective Soul at Both Local Shows

ALBANY, NY (March 31, 2005) Albany's own North Allen has been invited to open for Collective Soul at The Chance in Poughkeepsie, NY on April 12th, and at Northern Lights in Clifton Park on April 14th.

North Allen is primarily a modern acoustic rock band with influences that represent several genres of music including rock, jazz and funk. The band is currently touring in support of their upcoming release "Walkabout".

Apparently Collective Soul heard about the band by word of mouth and asked one of the North Allen's managers to send some music. Matt Greco, North Allen's guitarist tells us that Collective Soul "must have liked what they heard, because the next call they made was to ask us to play the Poughkeepsie show." Tim Frank, North Allen's drummer adds "This is a great opportunity to work with one of this decade's definite rock groups."

Collective Soul exploded out of their home town of Stockbridge, GA on to the national scene with 1994's smash "Hints, Allegations and Things Left Unsaid". The band has gathered eight number one rock hits and sold over seven million albums worldwide. Collective Soul's latest release is titled "Youth".

Cheers to Host a Two Day Music Festival and Benefit Concert

ALBANY, NY (March 31, 2005) Local musicians will gather this weekend at Cheers for a music festival and benefit concert as a tribute to the life and music of Eddie Van. Eddie was a founding member of local rock band Seed, and a very active part of the local music scene. All of the festival proceeds will benefit Eddie's two young daughters, Macey and Melody. The two day festival, affectionately titled "Ed-Stock" will boast performances by more than a dozen local groups.

A single $20 donation includes admission both Saturday and Sunday, and food; cash bars are available on site.There will be a number of raffles and auctions; many one of a kind items have been donated by local businesses and well known artists including an acoustic guitar signed by Bobby Barth of Blackfoot, and a signature guitar courtesy of Parkway Music in Clifton Park and autographed by Zakk Wylde of Black Label Society.

Acts currently scheduled to appear include: Seed, Tommy White, Random Axcess, 10 Year Vamp, Yellow Dog, Devilish Minds and Headbump on Saturday; with Heat, Long Story Short, Red Otis, Hypnology Project, Bottle of Dog and Seed on Sunday.

Cheers is located at 27 Fuller Road in Albany. The benefit concert will take place this Saturday, April 2nd from 10am-10pm, and from 10am-7pm on Sunday, April 3rd.

Plug In With Hector On Stilts

Hector On Stilts

They occasionally rock like Uncle Tupelo

Hector On Stilts is:
Clayton Colwell - vocals & guitar, Jeb Colwell - vocals, guitar& keys, Roger Mason - bass, Jay Schultheis - drums Hometown: Pittsfield, MA
Genre: Rock Booking Info: info@hectoronstilts.com
Website: www.hectoronstilts.com

Jeb and Clayton Colwell, the founding members of Hector On Stilts, are cousins who are carrying on a family heritage of music for the masses: their fathers were the co-founders and songwriters for the Pepsodent-fresh, clean, positive-thinking group, Up With People, who used to perform at Super Bowl halftimes way back in the 1970s, before Janet Jackson was in a training bra. Their dads gave them a legacy for people-pleasing music, and an unending fondness for the sweeter and poppier side of it.

Jeb and Clayton began making music together at age fifteen when the both lived in Tucson, AZ. After taking time off for college and other assorted activities, the Colwell cousins regrouped and decided to "make a record, " resulting in the 2000 release, Pretty Please, which was representative of their live performance style of the time: two guys, two acoustic guitars and two voices with little else in between. The album was recorded live in their living room as a collection of folk-rock tunes with the hints of Spanish edge that still spice many of their songs.

In 2001, wanderlust struck and the cousins headed east, settling in Pittsfield, MA for the contrasting appeal of its proximity to New York City and Boston and relative quiet compared to the more urban options. Soon after unpacking in Western Mass, the guys started heading to Albany and quickly became part of the local open-mic scene. With their blend of striking vocal harmonies, achingly beautiful, deceptively simple pop songs, charisma and enigmatic humor, HOS quickly became popular with the crowd at the Larkin; they were soon headlining the weekend shows upstairs. In 2003, Jeb and Clayton broke ranks from the traditional acoustic performances, exploring bigger pop sonic possibilities with a new rhythm section. They also became the first rock band to be part of the Storefront Artist Project (www.storefrontartist.org) an artists group inadvertently intent on turning this once moribund ex-GE company town into the Brooklyn of the Berkshires. Most recently, they played to a crowd of nearly 2,000 at the Palace Theatre in Albany for the Rock2Rebuild Tsunami benefit.

In 2004, Hector On Stilts began working with Grammy-nominated producer, Andres Levin, on the forthcoming full length album, Same Height Relation. 14 months in the making, Same Height is HOS's most definitive body of work to date . The album is already garnering crticial praise: Same Height track, "Toungue Tied," was one of only three songs selected for the Performing Songwriter Magazine "Be Heard" Scholarships to this year's Kauai Music Festival sponsored by BMI and Songwriter101.com, an award worth over $2,000.

Same Height Relation is scheduled for release in late April but is currently available for pre-sale on their website, hectoronstilts.com.