It takes a bit to get me pumped about a Monday hometown show.
But it’s not every day (year, or decade) that Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade rolls through town.
They’re playing Chicago’s Salt Shed on Sunday. Here’s the ticket link for that sold-out show here. Here’s the ticket link for Monday’s show at the Palace Theatre in St. Paul. Check out the rest of the tour dates here.
This Monday is no normal Monday, seeing how it’s followed by a Tuesday Fourth of July.
So that makes the after-show in St. Paul even more enticing. I know, I wouldn’t miss it.
Minneapolis jamband Twine will be playing at KJ’s Hideaway, which is right across from the Palace Theatre. Check out Twine’s Facebook page here.
The Twin Cities has produced some solid jam bands over the years (The Big Wu, Jones Gang, God Johnson, and Frogleg).
Twine is fairly new, launched chiefly by guitarists Will Effertz and Kevin Fowke a little more than a year ago.
The last time I saw them play an after-show (also at KJ’s following the recent String Cheese Incident show) the band got into hallowed territory covering Phish’s “Ghost,” which had all the funk and energy of a ’98, European Ghost, to be more exact.
And the T-Rex disco dance mode switch seemed to be flipped for, I don’t know, everybody on the dance floor.
It didn’t hurt that the band had a special sit-in with saxman Brian “Snowman” Powers.
Fowke shredded everyone’s faces right off their heads, giving evidence to the notion held by some that he’s one of the best improvisational guitarists around the Minneapolis music scene right now.
I had a couple of recent chats about Twine with Effertz, who recently ended a two-year-long weekly residency at 56 Brewing in Northeast Minneapolis.
“It’s a power rock group,” said Effertz, adding that the lineup is rounded out by drummer Kelly Cook, bassist Scott Yonke and Kevin Dorsey on keys.
Effertz and Fowke have known each other since their high school days at Minnetonka. Effertz is now 32 years old.
“Kevin and I have been trying to form a band for a long time,” he said. “It is awesome to be able to play music with somebody you have history with. You can get badass people together, but you have to know each other musically.”
These two definitely have that going for them.
“It’s an honor to be able to play with him,” Effertz said of Fowke. “He has taught me a lot personally. His ability to obsess over a certain run, like a lick, and obsess over it until he’s doing it correctly instead of just moving on is a super power. He’s a fierce player. … I play rhythm but there are points where both of us are playing rhythm and leading at the same time. That is what is really fun for me.”
The influences, he said, include the Allman Brothers, Phish, the Funky Meters and the Grateful Dead, of course.
The band is working on an album they hope to release later this year, Effertz said.
Asides from this KJ’s show, Twine also has a gig at Floyd’s Bar in Victoria on July 15. Effertz and Fowke will be opening up for Jon Sullivan Band and People’s Brothers Band at the Hook & Ladder on July 28. They’ll also be sandwiched between Leftover Salmon and Railroad Earth at People Fest on Aug. 12 in Yuba, Wis.
This will actually be the third after-show at KJ’s Hideaway, which has breathed new life into the space that was formerly Vieux Carré, a jazz club affiliated with the Dakota. It’s remains a solid pre- or post-game option for Palace shows.
Effertz said he likes that Twine has found a niche playing after major touring jam bands have come through town, and the Frog Brigade is no exception.
Will Effertz. Photo courtesy of Tim McG
“I know Les Claypool is one of the most badass bass players in this country,” said Effertz, who, like me, still had never seen Claypool’s Oysterhead side project, which includes the Police’s Stewart Copeland on drum and Phish’s Trey Anastasio on guitar.
“I would kill to see Oysterhead, though I have seen (Claypool) play with Buckethead,” Effertz said, referencing Colonel Claypool’s Bucket of Bernie Brains, which also featured keyboardist Bernie Worrell and drummer Bryan “Brain” Mantia.
It’s normally a stretch to get me to a Monday night after show.
This one’s a no-brainer.