Each week, the team at WAMM brings you our picks for the best upcoming live shows hitting the M Town. Here are our selections for the week beginning on April 3rd!
Hawthorne Heights & Armor For Sleep
7pm, Tuesday April 4th
Black Lodge
$30
Feeling nostalgic for flip phones, Myspace, and pop punk? Well you’re in luck because one of the genre’s most iconic bands is coming to Memphis this week. Hawthorne Heights is set to take the stage at Black Lodge Tuesday night. The intimate venue is the perfect backdrop to bring to life both their classic hit songs (like “Ohio is for Lovers”), as well as newer, more personal tracks from their latest album, The Rain Just Follows Me. Joining them on tour is another long-standing pop-punk band, Armor For Sleep who recently reunited and also released a new album, The Rain Museum, last year. Go ahead and indulge your inner emo self and grab tickets – just don’t forget to put up an away message when you’re at the show. -Katie
These Dayton post-hardcore lifers come by their impressive emo cred legitimately; lawsuits with shady labels, ever-shifting lineups, even the death of a long-time rhythm guitarist haven’t been enough to derail two-plus decades of soul-scraping vocals and soul-bearing lyrics. Maybe that’s the secret – a band like Hawthorne Heights only gathers more strength and dedication as the odds are increasingly stacked against them. The more dream-pop aligned veterans in New Jerseyans Armor For Sleep should prove a balm, then, a space to drift to reflect before the emotional onslaught begins.-Zach
Keepin It Memphis W/ Jay DaSkreet
7pm, Wednesday April 5th
Memphis Music Room
$15
Keepin It Memphis is a weekly concert series that aims to one thing: continue to put original Memphis music at the forefront of Memphis. They’ve welcomed some incredible past guests and this week is no different. Mississippi artist Jay DaSkreet will hit their stage to share his impressive blend of powerful storytelling, sharp wordplay, and buttery smooth beats. Performing alongside him is Keepin It Memphis’ exceptional house band, The M-Tones Band. This is one you won’t want to miss.
The Turkey Buzzards, Ben Abney
8PM, Wednesday, April 5th
The Hi-Tone (Small Room)
$10
Don’t let the name, choices of attire, or genre tags like ‘roots’ and ‘Americana’ fool you, the Turkey Buzzards hail from the sunny central coast of California. Regardless of their geography, there’s certainly precedent for Golden State musical legends to tend towards the swampy and country end of the dial now and again (Creedence, Sweetheart Of The Rodeo-era Byrds). And these folks put on a more than convincing show, so you won’t even be thinking about their home state. Bluff City indie-folk favorite Ben Abney makes for an inspired opener; in Memphis, Americana is whatever you say it is.
Witnesse
9:30PM, Saturday, April 8th
Bar Keough
Free
As an employee at Shangri-La Records, it didn’t take long at all before I became acquainted with Jason “Witnesse” Sims, one of the city’s most prolific and knowledgable collectors. When it comes to the soul, funk, and boogie created in Memphis during the 1980s in particular, I’m not sure anyone can hold a candle to Witnesse. For those reasons and more, that’s why I will undoubtedly be in the crowd at Bar Keough on Saturday night with my dancing shoes on and my Shazam ready to go. Won’t you join me?
