Tag: The Romantics

Music Festivals by William Ruben Helms

The Totally Tubular Festival announced its inaugural lineup and tour dates, which initially featured stops at 17 markets across North America starting June 28, 2024 in Santa Barbara, CA and closing out July 27, 2024 in Cincinnati.The tour includes a July 18, 2024 stop at Pier 17.

Due to popular demand and impressive ticket sales, festival organizers have added additional markets to its inaugural run. “Sales in our initial 17 markets have been so strong, that I decided to add new markets, and invite more friends to the party,” Jon Pleeter CPO (Chief Party Officer) of Totally Tubular Festival says.

Tickets for the newly added dates will go on sale, Friday, February 16, 2024 at 10:00am local time. You can get tickets and information here: totallytubularfestival.com.

The festival’s first lineup features a collection of artists that exploded into the pop culture zeitgeist in the early to mid 1980s as a result of regular rotation of their music videos on MTV. Because of nostalgia — and the songs were great — the sounds of the 80s and the artists, who created that song have seen a resurgence in popularity over the last handful of years. 

The artists performing on the 2024 tour include:

“This is a dream lineup for those who love the music of the early 1980’s, and for those who want to relive the days when life was…plain and simply–a total party,” says Jon Pleeter, CPO (Chief Party Officer) of Totally Tubular Festival. “You wore dayglow, you wore parachute pants, you had big hair, perms and more perms, mullets, leg warmers, along with tons of buttons and lots of rubber bracelets. You wore sunglasses at night. The choruses were big, and the hooks were bigger—the party didn’t end.”

“This event will be an explosion of fun and excitement, from the opening note to the final curtain!! It is truly an honour to be a part of the 2024 Totally Tubular Festival and share the stage with our illustrious contemporaries from the greatest decade of new wave music!!” Men Without Hats’ Ivan Doroshuck says. “Come join us and sing-along to all the hits!!”

“I have talked many times with Thomas Dolby about the chance of touring together and, at last, we have arranged a great list of dates in North America. The Totally Tubular Tour has an amazing line-up of great artists from the golden era of 80s music and I can’t wait to see you all,” Thompson Twins’ Tom Bailey says.

“Dig out your old rollerblades. Fire up the Delorean. Or just pull on a white glove and moonwalk over to the Totally Tubular Festival!” Thomas Dolby says.

“Best way to spend a hot summer night…Great bands playing great music…Totally Tubular…That’s What We Like About You!” The Romantics say. “Keep on rocking and we will see you there!”

“This package has never been done! It will be the first time sharing the stage with some of our favorite acts. We’re stoked!!” Tommy Tutone says.

“The Totally Tubular Festival is gonna be a LOT of fun!” The Plimsouls’ “Eddie Munoz says. “I am looking forward to greeting our fans and sharing a stage with my friends in other bands who are also along for this EPIC ride! I hope everyone who comes out has a most Bitchin’ time! I know I will!”

“I’m really looking forward to bringing The Plimsouls’ special brand of power-pop garage rock to the people. Can’t wait for folks across North America to see AND hear this great band.,” The Plimsouls Garrett Vandremolen says.

A portion of proceeds from ticket sales will go towards food banks locally in each market.

TOTALLY TUBULAR FESTIVAL tour dates — with new dates marked:

6/25 – Seattle – Remlinger Farms *NEW SHOW*

6/27 – Sacramento – Hard Rock Live *NEW SHOW*

6/28 – Santa Barbara – Santa Barbara Bowl

6/29 – Los Angeles – YouTube Theater

6/30 – Oakland – Fox Theatre

7/3 – Phoenix – Arizona Financial Theatre

7/6 – Denver – Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre

7/9 – Irving, TX – Pavilion @ Toyota Music Factory

7/10 – Houston – 713 Music Hall

7/12 – Huntsville, AL – Orion Amphitheatre *NEW SHOW*

7/13 – Raleigh, NC – Red Hat Amphitheatre

7/14 – Washington, DC – Anthem *NEW SHOW*

7/16 – Bridgeport, CT – Hartford Healthcare Amphitheatre

7/17 – Boston – MGM Music Hall @ Fenway

7/18 – New York, NY – Pier 17

7/19 – Atlantic City – Hard Rock Live @ Etess Arena

7/20 – Bushkill, PA – Poconos Park Amphitheatre

7/23 – Montreal, QUE – Place Bell

7/24 – Toronto, ONT – Great Canadian Casino Resort

7/26 – Detroit – Meadowbrook Amphitheatre

7/27 – Cincinnati – Riverbend Music Center

7/28 – Cleveland – Blossom Music Center *NEW SHOW*

New Wave by William Ruben Helms

The inaugural Totally Tubular Festival will tour across 17 markets across North America starting June 28, 2024 in Santa Barbara, CA and closing out July 27, 2024 in Cincinnati. The tour includes a July 18, 2024 stop at Pier 17.

The festival’s first lineup features a collection of artists that exploded into the pop culture zeitgeist in the early to mid 1980s as a result of regular rotation of their music videos on MTV. Because of nostalgia — and the songs were great — the sounds of the 80s and the artists, who created that song have seen a resurgence in popularity over the last handful of years.

The artists performing on the 2024 tour include:

“This is a dream lineup for those who love the music of the early 1980’s, and for those who want to relive the days when life was…plain and simply–a total party,” says Jon Pleeter, CPO (Chief Party Officer) of Totally Tubular Festival. “You wore dayglow, you wore parachute pants, you had big hair, perms and more perms, mullets, leg warmers, along with tons of buttons and lots of rubber bracelets. You wore sunglasses at night. The choruses were big, and the hooks were bigger—the party didn’t end.”

A portion of proceeds from ticket sales will go towards food banks locally in each market.

TOTALLY TUBULAR FESTIVAL tour dates include:

6/28 – Santa Barbara, CA – Santa Barbara Bowl

6/29 – Los Angeles, CA – YouTube Theatre

6/30 – Oakland, CA – Fox Theatre

7/3 – Phoenix – Arizona Financial Theatre

7/6 – Englewood, CO – Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre

7/9 – Irving, TX – Pavilion @ Toyota Music Factory

7/10 – Houston, TX – 713 Music Hall

7/13 – Raleigh, NC – Red Hat Amphitheatre 

7/16 – Bridgeport, CT – Hartford Healthcare Amphitheatre

7/17 – Boston, MA – MGM Music Hall @ Fenway

7/18 – New York, NY – Pier 17

7/19 – Atlantic City, NJ – Hard Rock Live @ Etess Arena

7/20 – Bushkill, PA – Poconos Park Amphitheatre

7/23 – Laval, QUE – Place Bell

7/24 – Missisauga, ONT – GCT Theatre

7/26 – Detroit, MI – Meadowbrook Amphitheatre

7/27 – Cincinnati, OH – Riverbend Music Center Amphitheatre

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Watch Baby Shakes Go on a Godzilla-Styled Campy Romp Across New York

Formed back in 2005, the New York-based rock/punk act Baby Shakes, comprised of Mary  (lead vocals), Judy (guitar, vocals), Claudia (bass, vocals) and Ryan (drums) have released a handful of one-off singles, a singles compilation, a 10 inch heart-shaped vinyl EP and three full-length albums that have firmly established their sound –a sound that generally draws from Ramones, Chuck Berry, 60s Motown-era girl groups with melodic vocals, fuzzy and distorted power chords and enormous hooks within breakneck songs. And building upon a growing profile, the members of the band have toured across the US, Japan, China, Ireland, the UK and the European Union and shared stages with The Romantics, The Boys, The Shadows of Knight, The Undertones, The Barracudas, Protex, Black Lips, Paul Collins’ Beat, Iggy Pop and a growing list of others.

Baby Shakes’ fourth album Cause a Scene is slated for a Friday release, and as you may recall, the album is reportedly inspired by and indebted to the original wave of punk— in particular, The Nerves, The Kids, early Bangles and The Go-Gos, The Runaways, as well as the Ramones. Cause a Scene’s first single “Nowhere Fast,” was a breakneck bit of fuzzy, old school punk paired with an infectious, power pop hook, making the song a sort of seamless synthesis of Ramones and The Go-Gos. “Love Song In Reverse” continued in a similar vein — fuzzy and distorted power chords and enormous, infectious hooks. Interestingly, the album’s latest single, album title track “Cause a Scene” is a straightforward, old-school garage rock track that sounds indebted to Sweet’s 
“The Ballroom Blitz” and T. Rex, as the track is centered around 12 bar blues-like guitar riffs, enormous hooks — and a pop-leaning infectiousness just underneath the grit and sleaze. (After all, the song is about two of rock’s greatest, undying tropes — how awesome being in a band is and shaking your ass to a great song.) 

Co-directed by Scott Mason and Claudia de Latour, the recently released video for “Cause a Scene” is an old-school-styled campy romp around New York that follows the members of the band as Godzilla-sized characters bringing rock ‘n’ roll grooves to any and all comers. as well as some mayhem, too. 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Earlier this year, I wrote about the New York-based rock/punk act Baby Shakes.  The act, which is currently comprised of Mary  (lead vocals), Judy (guitar, vocals), Claudia (bass, vocals) and Ryan (drums) was formed back in 2005. And since their formation, they’ve released a handful of one-off singles, a singles compilation, a 10 inch heart-shaped EP and three albums that have firmly established their sound and aesthetic — a sound that generally draws from Ramones, Chuck Berry, 60s Motown-era girl groups with melodic vocals, fuzzy and distorted power chords and enormous hooks within breakneck songs.

The members of the band have toured across the US, Japan, China, Ireland, the UK and the European Union and shared stages with the likes of The Romantics, The Boys, The Shadows of Knight, The Undertones, The Barracudas, Protex, Black Lips, Paul Collins’ Beat, Iggy Pop and a growing list of others. Now, as you may recall, Baby Shakes’ latest effort Cause a Scene is slated for release next week, and the album is reportedly inspired by and indebted to the original wave of punk — in particular, The Nerves, The Kids, early Bangles and The Go-Gos, The Runaways, as well as the Ramones.

“Nowhere Fast,” the album’s first single was a breakneck bit of fuzzy, old school punk with an infectious power pop-like hook that reminded me of a seamless synthesis of Ramones and The Go-Gos. The album’s second single,  “Love Song In Reverse” continues in a similar vein as its predecessor: it’s all fuzzy and distorted power chords and enormous hooks. And while clocking in at a little over two minutes — roughly 2:25 in this case — the song manages to be an infectious mixture of sugary sweet pop confection and sleazy barroom rock.

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Formed back in 2005, the New York-based rock/punk act Baby Shakes — Mary  (lead vocals), Judy (guitar, vocals), Claudia (bass, vocals) and Ryan (drums) have released a handful of one-off singles, a singles compilation, a 10 inch heart-shaped EP and three full-length albums that have firmly established their sound — melodic vocals paired with fuzzy power cords that generally draws from the likes of Ramones, Chuck Berry, 60s Motown-era girl groups.

The members of the band have toured across the US, Japan, China, Ireland, the UK and the European Union and shared stages with the likes of The Romantics, The Boys, The Shadows of Knight, The Undertones, The Barracudas, Protex, Black Lips, Paul Collin’s Beat, Iggy Pop and a growing list of others. Interestingly, the New York-based punk act’s forthcoming album Cause a Scene is slated for a September 20, 2019 release, and the album is reportedly indebted to the original wave of punk — in particular, The Nerves, The Kids, early Bangles and The Go-Gos, The Runaways, as well as the Ramones.

Clocking in at exactly two minutes, “Nowhere Fast,” Cause a Scene‘s lead single is a breakneck bit of fuzzy, old-school punk with an infectious, power pop-like hook — and while clearly indebted to Ramones, Go-Gos and the like, the song is one part snotty and in your face, one part sweet, and one part cynical scowl, delivered with the self-assuredness of old pros.