Our next show goes off at Deva Cafe (1202 J Street, Modesto) THIS Friday, April 27! Hope you can join us! All of the deets are contained in this post. Thanks for checking in and we hope to see you soon!

Come and grab a brand-spanking-new album by Modesto’s very own Myosin at THIS Friday’s show! These dudes are promising a rollicking live set that will be including, but not limited to, a brass section! You’ll just have to come and see what fireworks actually pop off for yourself!

That video right up there is by NIGHTGOWN which is Rusty Miller’s (Jackpot) new project! Rusty has “played with the likes of Chuck Prophet and Grandaddy’s Jason Lytle.”

NIGHTGOWN will be in the house gettin’ all silky and lacey in the space between your head’s listening devices. If Barry White only knew how sexy and spaced-out indie rock could be maybe he would’ve flipped the script and donned some skinny jeans. I guess we’ll never know, but what we do know Rusty is a legend with a seductive voice of his very own that both inspires and melts hearts like butter. NIGHTGOWN will not disappoint!

Oakdale is home to loads of great music and Television Skies is definitely shaping up to be another fancy feather in its cap. Make sure to arrive early as these guys kick off the night. It’s not everyday you hear someone play a steel drum in a rock band!

Luckily for us, a saint named Jed has opened up the doors of his Scenic Castle and is allowing us to rock our house show under his roof while the pitter patter of rain drops play their own music outside. All of the show deets are below. Hope to see each and every one of you at this sure-shot, memory-makin’ event!

—> The Fine Print

OFF THE AIR House Show Featuring Emily Jane White & Foxtails Brigade
Friday, April 13
Jed’s Scenic Castle, 1408 Scenic Drive, Modesto, CA 95355

Arrive as early as 7:00 PM to hang out and shoot the breeze. The music will start around 8 PMish. Definitely pack along your good vibes and delicious conversation!

All Ages. Bring the whole FAM!

STRONGLY SUGGESTED donation of $5 – $20. All of the cash goes to the bands.

BYOB, but NO UNDERAGE DRINKING WILL BE TOLERATED. Please respect our host and OFF THE AIR, ya’ll.

—> Featuring the musical delights of…

Emily Jane White

“….San Francisco-based singer-songwriter with a
dark streak, has the perfect voice — a coarse but
beautifully aged alto soaked in rye….a beautifully
produced collection of shiver-inducing songs, and
one I’ll return to many times this year.” – NPR

“…as melancholy as a rainbow glimpsed through the
bars of a prison window.” – Rolling Stone

Foxtails Brigade

“The pretty melodies and flower-strewn stories conjure memories of playing dress-up in vintage finery. Yet a sharp, almost violent edge is ever present, saving the music from sugary sweet, indie-folk doldrums.”– SF Bay Guardian

“Foxtails Brigade has that soul-transporting ‘anytime but now, anywhere but here’ quality that accompanies a lot of bands not punching away at the prefab Garage Band beats on their Macs, and it’s such a welcome vacation. The violin and guitar glide and pluck together beautifully, accompanied by Laura Wenbach’s sweet and powerful vocals.” – SF Weekly

This Friday, April 6 at Deva Cafe in downtown Modesto, Manteca’s own Travis Vick will be playing an on-fire set stacked with new songs to a sure-to-be-packed house! AND if you decide to start your weekend off right by coming to check this dude rock you’ll have the chance to take home a tangible, hold-it-close-to-your-heart copy of his first ever full-length album “Blavis!” over two months before it’s officially released! We’re sort of pumped over here at OTA if you can’t already tell by all of the exclamation points!!!

Blavis! will be the maiden release for our new short-run, boutique label OFF THE AIR Recordings as we set sail on a smooth sea of sweet Central Valley sounds with more quality music for your ears on its way in the coming months!

So, you’re probably wondering what the heck a 3 day Album Pre-Release WKND has to do with all of this? Well, this is how it all breaks down…

Starting in the morning of Friday, April 6 through the evening of Sunday, April 8 you will be able to purchase a digital copy of Blavis! HERE for $5! However, if you can get your body to the OFF THE AIR show at Deva Cafe on Friday, April 6 you’ll be able to purchase a CD for $7 or a limited-run cassette (only 100 made) with a digital download of Blavis! for $10 before the “OFFICIAL” release date of June 18, 2012! Basically, this your one-night-only chance to be one of the lucky people to grab this gem before everyone else! All of the details for the show are below. We’d love to see you and smile at you while we celebrate this exciting journey for both OFF THE AIR and Travis Vick! As always, this show is definitely going to go off! Please join us!!! XOXOXOXO

SHOW DEETS —>

OFF THE AIR Presents

An Evening Of Live Independent Music

Featuring

Travis Vick (Album Pre-Release)
Churches – Oakland, CA
The Airlings

Friday, April 6
Deva Cafe, 1202 J Street, Modesto
Show @ 8 PM
$5
ALL AGES

Mr. Matt Torres

We recently checked in with Matt and asked him to break down his ideas about open mics, what you should expect as an participant and a spectator at an open mic and stuff like that. His answers are below. We’re really excited Matt has chosen to run with this idea to give Modesto yet another outlet for creativity, a voice for the artistic members of our community.

You go, Matt! Get your host on…

From Matt Torres…

What is an open mic?

An open mic is an open ear. The OFF THE AIR Open Mic will be a place for artists to share their vision, their passion, their life with people who want to hear it. The everyday noise stops at the door. You only have one job at an open mic as a spectator: to tell the artists that you love them. You do that by listening. You do that by clapping. You do that by cheering, talking with them after they perform, and putting your cell phone on silent!

An Open Mic is a training ground. Skills are built and tested at open mics. This is where artists who know how to crawl, learn how to walk. This is where artists who know how to walk, learn how to fly. And artists who know how to fly get to teach those still learning and share their new tricks with a loving and listening audience.

An Open Mic is a network, a treasure chest of goodies, a place you’ll find your new favorite artist, friends who love and hate the same bands as you, that lead singer for your band you’ve been looking for. But most importantly, you’ll find that the Central Valley ain’t no joke, that the Modesto area brings it just as hard as the Bay and LA.

So when and where’s it gonna be?

Sunday, April 1st
@ The Peer Recovery Art Project Gallery, 1222 J Street, Modesto
Doors open at 6 PM
Sign-ups are at 6:30 PM
Open Mic starts at 7 PM and goes to 9:30 PM
ALL AGES
FREE
Facebook Event HERE

I love you. I thank you.

Thanks to The Peer Recovery Art Project Gallery, home of the Arts for Freedom program for hosting this event! For more info about this wonderful organization please visit www.peerrecoveryartproject.org

All Photos by and belong to Simone Mingua

CAVE Women took the stage first, and they played up the ‘rock’ elements of their music beyond what’s on their EP. Something magical happened when they broke into the opening harmonies of “This Heart of Mine.” The realization that the band would be just as much at home playing the Gallo Center for jazz/classical cronies as they are tearing up the packed Deva Cafe hit hard. Bassist Casey Lipka led the band in their only cover, a Smith’s song that didn’t always have as tight of a groove as it did last night. There is audible chemistry in the band’s recorded material, but their live performance brings CAVE Women’s ability to stay in the pocket to the forefront. Inward smiles were on their faces throughout, and drummer Vanessa Cruz’s tight cymbal work behind the band provided a nice contrast to the rest of the night’s (louder) kit work. The award for biggest stage presence of the night was taken early by guitarist Alicyn Yaffee, whose intense grimaces, back-and-forths with the other CAVE Women, and meticulously played solos were fun as hell to watch. Each of the CAVE Women took the vocal lead on a song, making it pleasantly impossible to single one out as the front-woman. No songs were skimped on: Lipka played the mbira on “Under the Willow Tree,” and Kim Davis whipped out a baritone sax solo that closed out the set. Including Emily Messick’s beautiful organ work, I counted at least eight different instruments played by the Women throughout the night, and it gave their set a split-pomegranate timbre.

Next on stage was Kapowski, the Oakland, CA “pop quartet.” Sam Ospovat kicked off their set with the opening tom hits of “A Bothering Man.” The savory distinct sound of Kapowski’s “Boy Detective” lost nothing in the live performance; if anything, the sand-blasted glassiness of the two keyboards was yet more gigantic, the thick-as-Yosemite-Redwood basslines of Jon Gondo more distinct. It was a night for the drummers though, with Ospovat driving the band forward behind the kit. At one point his drums looked like they lost a fight with a garbage truck; cymbals and exotic percussion were draped across the toms and snare. “Section Eight” was the highlight of the set. The kaleidoscopic counterpoint between Rimler and Coleman’s keyboards was on full display, as well as Gondo and Ospovat’s talent at laying a huge rhythmic backbone for Rimler’s voice to waltz over. The organ solos gave CAVE Women competition for most faces melted that night, but nothing came close to Coleman’s noisy echoplex-and-organ ‘solo’ that closed out a song and sounded like a thousand pinball machines rolling down Mt. Shasta.

I could feel the underwear melting throughout the cafe when Scott Huerta and Mack Bunch started setting up for the French Cassettes (though neither of them have anything on bassist Thomas Huerta’s beard). The following they have, especially in the Valley, is amazing to be around. Hearing the crowd sing along with “Little Shoes,” “Seahorse,” and “Radley” makes me feel like I’m in a Baptist church, but instead of speaking in tongues, people are chanting their favorite songs. Scott Huerta’s singing is infectious, and the mix let his voice shine through and break every heart in the room. I last saw these guys at Plea for Peace Center in Stockton, and the harmonies of the other Cassettes shone through much better in the Cafe. Drummer Ben was the most rock-and-roll badass behind the kit that night, and the evidence wasn’t just in the piece of broken drum stick my friend caught. It was in the relentless fills and triplets across the set, and the piston-like attunement with Thomas Huerta’s intricate bass work. The Cassettes debuted several new songs to the screaming fans, and so instead of singing along they danced to Mac Bunch’s ’80s-styled synth lines and even reggaeton-quoting beats that sounded like the B-52s playing in the Caribbean with Freddie Mercury guesting on vocals.

And if that last line didn’t emphasize how fun last night was, it bears mentioning that no amount of drunk girls shaking posters or spilled drinks could bring down March 2nd’s Off the Air show. The sound quality was consistently good: no vocals were ever drowned out, the reverb didn’t shimmer away the details, and every solo ripped through the mix like Mentos in Pepsi. In between sets, DJ Sonny Frisco kept the shoes moving and heads bobbing. The crowd was friendly, and deserved the encore they demanded. It was one for the history books. Plus, I got this badass framed poster!

March 2nd, 2012, I will treasure you forever.

Ricardo Friaz is the sole voice of alsofrightened.com which is a music blog based out of Turlock, CA with an emphasis on local and California indie music.

It’s that time again, kids. Off the Air is back at Deva Café this Friday and is bringing another stellar lineup to our favorite venue. Headlining the festivities this week will be Ripon-to-San Francisco transplants French Cassettes, and we are more than excited to welcome them back home. In case you’ve forgotten about how much you like them or how goddamn adorable they are, here’s a reminder in video file format. Check out this video of French Cassettes and friends playing “Little Shoes” in Modesto in a house while wearing red bandanas and being dressed nicely. Then keep that in mind as you go about your business all week. And then come to Deva on Friday and watch them blow the lid off the joint. See you there.

“Kapowski” is not just the word that describes the sound of you getting beaten about the face. It’s also the name of the quartet from Oakland performing at Deva Café on Friday, March 2nd whose tunes will punch you in the ears and sock you in the chest with the most lovely and aesthetically pleasing of blows.

A guitarless pop-rock band, Kapowski sculpts endearing, upbeat pop songs with backbones made of electric organ key ivory and decorated with the kinds of melodies that you find yourself whistling for days after you listen. Add some kick-ass drumming and tasteful harmonies, and you’ve got yourself “Boy Detective”, the latest release from the band, who have been playing to a burgeoning fan base in the bay area for several years. It sounds almost like a Dr. Dog record whose rawness has been polished up and arranged to appeal to our more pleasant musical sensibilities.

Off the Air (and here I’m just assuming that my opinion does, in fact, reflect the opinions of Off the Air at large) is ultra-excited for these guys to get on stage at Deva. Listen to and buy “Boy Detective” via Kapowski’s bandcamp, then come on out to J Street on Friday and spend the evening in downtown Modesto with some out-of-towners that’ll make you feel right at home.

Last Saturday, February 4th, at Deva Café in Modesto, marked not an Airplane’s inaugural show as a three-piece. And it was awesome.

I’ve seen not an Airplane play lots of shows, at lots of different venues, and Saturday’s show was the leanest and meanest they’ve sounded. Comprised of Nick Shattell playing the electric guitar (and sometimes the acoustic one, but it was the electric one that got me juiced), Jared Neilson on the upright bass (and sometimes the electric one, which was also juicy) and Chris Haupt on the drums (and also the mandolin, go figure), not an Airplane’s live show rocked and rolled in ways I didn’t totally know they were capable of. Well. Lie. I knew they were capable of it, because they’re all badass musicians. But I didn’t necessarily expect it. And that’s one of my favorite things about this band. The way in which the unexpected slips into their songs so seamlessly and fluidly that you don’t even grasp its unexpectedness until you realize you’ve gone from tapping your toe in time to a twangy bluegrass jam to throwing your head up and down, hair flying, “rocking out” in the purest way. While purity may not be a notion generally (or ever) mentioned in connection with rock ‘n’ roll, it fits here. Because what Nick Shattell and not an Airplane do is rock. As you watch them play, you know that they’re loving it, and you know that you love it, and you know that everyone else around you watching and listening is loving it. It’s pure rock ‘n’ roll, and it ain’t boring. I am excited as hell for them to really come into their own as a three piece, and if you aren’t excited as hell too, then we are not friends.

If you missed the show, check out their website, notanairplane.com for tour dates and go to one. And pick up their latest release, “It Could Just Be This Place”, if you haven’t already.

Photos by Julie Edwards