Friends of Dean Martinez

Like most bands that manage to pass the ten-year mark, Friends of Dean Martinez have weathered a number of lineup and label changes since 1994, the year Bill Elm, Joey Burns, John Convertino and Van Christian first kicked up an instrumental ruckus as a sort of side project from Burns’ and Convertino’s day jobs in Tucson, AZ’s Giant Sand.  From its earliest days, Friends of Dean Martinez--formerly Friends of Dean Martin, until their first label got twitchy--was a group project, but Elm provided its momentum and center, the steel guitar lines that snagged each loping melody and pulled it taut.  FoDM is thoughtful and deliberate, crafting unhurried, cinematic music with minimal instrumentation, favoring sophisticated but somehow sinister melodic lines--the way Henry Mancini might sound if he’d scored for Sam Peckinpah.

“Somewhere...”, incidentally, comes from Friends of Dean Martinez’s recent composition and performance of a simultaneous score for Stuart Paton’s 1916 silent film of Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, screened at Austin’s Alamo Draft House Cinema.  It’s a project the band has undertaken before--a previous score for The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari yielded part of the music on Random Harvest (2004)--but the unity of purpose on “Somewhere...”, as on Lost Horizon itself, emerges from Elm, Semple, and Gerfers having had the time and space to play off each other’s performance styles.

PH8

“Ph8 have used their determination and perseverance to build up a rather rabid fan base--no doubt attracted to the band's wild, live energy and showmanship.” Tucson Weekly

Ph8 (fate) released their long awaited CD Fortune Favors the Bold.  This is Ph8’s second CD and is already selling even faster than the self-titled PH8, which has sold thousands of copies worldwide.  While they have had their music on movie soundtracks and video games, it’s their high-energy live show that has gained Ph8 a reputation as the top choice among promoters for opening for major bands such as Linkin Park, Disturbed, Papa Roach, Anthrax, Static X, Saliva, and Sevendust.

Marcus Davis is a front man that effuses energy, inspiring his listeners to do the same. He is backed by “a thick, propulsive groove” shaped by Nando Rivas, Andy Pyle, and Michael Hummer.  Their loyal and enthusiastic fan base has been consistently growing for years.

The LowLights

Dameon Lee has been on the road to the Lowlights for most of his life. Raised in rural New Mexico over a hundred miles from a record store. Listening to eight tracks, peering through car windows at the vacant landscape of the American Southwest, he never stopped to consider that the journey would eventually lead him to a somber, beautiful collection of his own songs.

Six years of recording, incessant travel, and gigs in venues running the gamut from theatres to living rooms with the band Scared Of Chaka in Albuquerque NM had taken Lee deep into the world of the working musician to further down the road to the Lowlights.  As a result, the artists he absorbed are folk, country, or psychedelic along the culture of the American Southwest and the roar of his old basement gigs to manifest the subtle beauty of the music he makes now.

The emptiness of a lone acoustic guitar finds a mate in Lee's rough voice. Layers of lap-steel and keyboards wash over the listener. Lush, over-driven guitars come hurtling in from the distance, then slink out the door into the dusk.

www.myspace.com/thelowlights

Brad Brooks

Originally from sun baked Tucson, Arizona, Bay Area pop alchemist, BradBrooks has a big voice and he intends to use it for dastardly good. It’sFreddie Mercury dating Leonard Cohen, in a threesome with Kate Bush. With tales of love on his sleeve, ex-stripper librarians and manic tourists, his is an extraordinarily unique perspective on a city and its delightful debauchery. Cinematic, orchestrated, and moody, his elaborate west coast baroque sound, rocks, pops and breaks your heart in all the right places. Either solo, or with his band, Brad’s 70’s piano driven style of psychedelic persuasion moves from constructed pop anthems, through Jacques Brel-esque satirical waltzes, to intimate guitar ballads. Brooks' latest feature release "Spill Collateral Love" evokes a dramatic and orchestral pop soundscape: think huge, bright Circus Tent being torn down on a rainy flatland in a vintage Fellini film. The 13 song CD, on Itunes, CDBaby, and Not Lame, is Brad Brooks' best so far, a visceral and psychedelic mix that highlights the Oakland songwriter's exceptional vocal range and bold command of powerful pop craftsmanship. His video for "Hit Me Like A Smile" was produced by Brian Zalewski with cinematography by Greg Slick, and shot in San Francisco.

“Love Mound, who got us all hopped up on adrenaline with their impressive, wall-rattling brand of heavy, Midwestern-style rawk.”--Stephen Seigel, Tucson Weekly (www.Tucsonweekly.com)

Watch your back because out of the desert comes the heavy-as-bricks power trio, Love Mound. This Tucson, Arizona band has won the admiration of music fans throughout the southwest, playing their own style of blues-influenced hard rock. Their volume-intense live shows and brooding songwriting has won them a legion of loyal fans. Pounding drums, high-energy bass, and guitar showmanship keep the crowd on their feet and applauding for more. Love Mound’s ability to rock the music into the ground has won an eclectic audience who appreciate their musical talent and hard-hitting style.

Class of ‘87 Stage
• Sun Trash
• Supersuckers
• Pollo Elastico
• Ian Moore
• Creosote

Class Of ’07 Stage
• Mr Free
• Mostly Bears
• The Swim
• Iods
• The Deludes

National Stage
• Okervil River
• The Bellrays
• Secretary Bird
• Broken Horse

Class Of ’77 Stage
• Bob Meighan Band
• Ned Sutton and Rabbits
• Chuck Wagon and The Wheels
...& some other big surprises!

5PM – 9PM BBQ Stage
Al Perry’s All-Star Guitar Throwdown
A long List of famous and should be famous guitarists
• Al Perry & the Cattle
• Kevin Daly Band
• Special Guests

Class of 1999 Stage
• Weird Lovemakers
• Pork Torta
• Borts Minorts
• Al Foul And The Shakes

Howe Gelb’s Hootananny Stage & BBQ (5pm)
• Tom Walbank
• Howe Gelb
• Jason Lytle of Grandaddy
• Lonna Kelly & The Broken Hearted Lovers
• Cathy Rivers
• Dusty Buskers
• Friends Of Dean Martinez
• Brad Brooks
• Scratchy Records Show