nashville Archives - Page 5 of 9

September 26, 2025 Jason Shrum

We Caught Those Fists in Nashville

This was the third cultivated show by Rolling Stone Magazine monikered as the Gather No Moss Tour. Fans knew exactly when to clap and clamor back with audio responses provoked by the group. It was as if we were watching a classic rock band we had seen for years, yet this is fresh and new and certainly exciting. If you are not listening to Wet Leg, then you are doing yourself a disservice. With just the two records out in only a few years as a collective the band has a ceiling that currently is way above the peer of human eyes.

FEATURED LIVE REVIEWS

September 8, 2025 Jason Shrum

NIN Peels It Back in Nashville

The setlist drew from The Downward Spiral more than any other album, although they played from various records. The group was now gaining momentum with rising fury and ripped one expeditious track after another; this included ‘March of the Pigs’, ‘Repitle’ and “Heresy” (all from The Downward Spiral); then ‘Copy of A’ (from 2013’s Hesitation Marks) and ‘Gave Up’ (also from Broken). They then began their rapid trek onto the more intimate setup where it got more electronic with Boys Noize joining in for all four of the songs. These were essentially remixes as Boys Noise shifted the tonality a bit with his additional soundscape. It was ‘Vessel’ (Year Zero), ‘Closer’ (The Downward Spiral), ‘As Alive as you Need Me To Be’ (from the new TRON:Ares soundtrack) and ‘Came Back Haunted’ (Hesitation Marks). I would love to hear a proper recording of the joint they prepared on ‘Closer’ (I’ll include that clip too).

FEATURED LIVE REVIEWS MUSIC NEWS

September 1, 2025 Jason Shrum

I Believe in a Thing Called The Darkness

My passion for the British rock group began back in 2003 when I first heard the single ‘I Believe In A Thing Called Love’, off their debut album Permission to Land. Now singer/guitarist Justin Hawkins, his brother guitarist Dan Hawkins, bassist Frankie Poullain, and drummer Rufus Taylor (son of Queen drummer Roger Taylor) are back with their eighth studio album. If you know anything about The Darkness, then you know about a high level of intensity when playing live gigs. As the band first emerged on the scene there was this inkling that they were some kind of joke band. That they were spoofing the 1970’s hard and glam rock scene, but those ribbings were quickly left by the side of musicality road. This band is absolutely enthralling. Listeners and critics alike fastly found themselves realizing the technical fortitude of this sonically reverent band.

FEATURED LIVE REVIEWS

August 25, 2025 Jason Shrum

Bully Packs A Punch at The Blue Room

I was back at The Blue Room again in Nashville to cover the Bully show with Jawdropped supporting on the second evening of a two-show engagement. You know you spend a lot of time at a venue when you walk up to the ticket person and they say, “Oh, it’s you again”. I laughed. Live music venues are my happy place, so I was certainly glad to be there again. This would be my third time seeing Alicia Bognanno and her band. “Bully” refers to her “inner bully” or the “inner demons” she confronts in her music and life. The name Bully also represents the initial band she fronted a decade ago but later became synonymous with Bognanno herself as the sole member.

FEATURED LIVE REVIEWS

August 22, 2025 Jason Shrum

Arts Fishing Club Drops Lines in Blue Room Waters

Their sound is hard to root down and that’s why I am excited about their future. You can say they are this or that, but their ability to play just about anything is evident in their music. At the core, Arts Fishing Club is branded as an indie-folk rock band, but I am not sure that’s the best descriptor of what they are about, although I am not sure how I would list them if I had to. The music is fun. The band plays tight. It’s fast when it needs to be but slows down with all the right accents tapping directly into all the listeners emotions. They keep it light between songs too, letting the audience know just how much fun they are having. On this Thursday, in the dimly lit architectural aqua-bowl of a room, our guiding light was AFC.

ALBUM REVIEWS FEATURED

August 13, 2025 Jason Shrum

The Staggering Expanse of Man

The song’s beginning challenges the impact of our global footprint with its prose. The band is screaming for us to listen and take heed, but our consumption may be drowning those cries out. So, there is a musical shift that happens and the song structure slows as if to appeal to us with another approach. This is one of those many layers that the trio brings to the forefront of their efforts. With tightknit precision and playing, the group captures their audience in mystical undertones that float beneath rough and metallic surfaces. It is absolutely gorgeous to listen to the transition from heavy to soft without losing the engagement of the audience. It might have been three separate songs if conceptualized differently, but it works as one opus and only for a few seconds are we fluttering in this softened sonic status before being hurled back into a deeper sound. And for all this, we are just :40 seconds into our journey.

FEATURED INTERVIEWS LIVE REVIEWS

July 15, 2025 Jason Shrum

Juke Box Jam II at The Basement East

The Basement East in Nashville was transformed into an old juke-joint/ sock hop with soul on Saturday night. The room was electric as people poured in, some donned in 1950’s and 60’s attire to watch a spectacular evening of beautiful music from the yesteryears. The stage was set with glittery streamers laced in a gold and red background, paper records looped around the venue, as a disco ball illuminated both floor and ceiling. There was an enchanting feeling that made me sense Michael J. Fox was about to blow up this “Under the Sea” monikered prom by ripping his cherry red Gibson ES-345 guitar and showing us the future of music.