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EAST COAST TOUR with ANGELA SHEIK!

That's not Photoshop. This is how Angela Sheik travels.
This is not Photoshop. This is how Angela Sheik goes to the store.

 

Greetings, all you wonderful Cool Little Brothers and Sisters!

You’ve probably noticed by now that Hot Breakfast! doesn’t have a lot of shows lined up for the fall. This realization undoubtedly led you to exclaim “hey! Hot Breakfast! doesn’t have a lot of shows lined up in the fall!” Unfortunately, this created an awkward moment for you, as you were in the middle of a quiet activity at the time, like checking out a library book or performing a bris. We’re sorry about that.

 

"What can I say? I like songs about pants."
“What can I say? I like songs about pants.”

 

Anyway, you deserve an answer. We’ve got lots of shows coming up – but not exactly as Hot Breakfast! Instead, we have the honor of backing our insanely talented friend Angela Sheik on select shows as she tours in support of her lush, haunting, all-around stunning new album Home Before Dark. Jill is singing backup and playing percussion and Matt is playing electric guitar on these shows.

If you’re familiar with Angela Sheik, well, then you know. If not, we’re not sure how to begin telling you about her, except to say to hear her music and watch her perform live is to become an instant fan. Angela is an incredibly skilled and creative looper – in fact, she was the Boss USA Loop Station Champion in 2011, and went on to represent America in the World competition. Loopers build their songs before your very eyes and ears, adding more and more layers until a single person can sound like a symphony. Here, take a look at the performance that won her the crown (her song begins around 1:20):

 

 

Looping, which requires multitudes of focus and concentration, is always impressive and mesmerizing to watch. There’s something hypnotic and damn near transcendent about witnessing someone create multiple layers of sound right in front of you. But it’s the amazing amount of creativity she puts into her music that really melts our brains – the vocals-as-percussion, the offbeat instruments, the flute lick that becomes a symphony, the theremin (holy moley, the theremin!)…everything. Plus, she’s got a gorgeous and versatile voice, she writes wonderful lyrics and melodies, and she’s delightful to watch onstage.

We like her, is what we’re saying. And we are thrilled to be in her band during these shows.

 

That's us, rocking out at World Cafe Live at the Queen on September 13th.
Here we are performing one of Angela’s new songs: “Jill Blows Her Nose in Bb Major.”

 

Angela’s band, which accompanies her on several non-looped songs, is loaded with goodness – it’s such a treat to hang out with these people, much less make music with them. In addition to Matt on guitar and Jill on vocals & percussion, we’ve got Derek Christopher on the bass, Rich Degnars and Ritchie Rubini (our good friend and producer of our upcoming album) on drums, Sharon Sable on vocals, Alfred James Goodrich on cello, and Christina von Duyke and Sarah Smith on violin.

We are on our knees, groveling at your feet, emoting like Sarah Bernhardt, begging you – begging – to catch at least one of these shows.

 

WE ARE NOT KIDDING ABOUT THE EMOTING PART.
WE ARE NOT KIDDING ABOUT THE EMOTING PART.

Here’s the schedule:

  • SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 20: Rockwood Music Hall, 196 Allen Street, NY, NY 10002 (21 & older)
  • THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25: IOTA Club & Cafe, 2832 Wilson Blvd, Arlington, VA (all ages)
  • SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25: Melodies Cafe, 2 E. Langaster Ave, Ardmore, PA (all ages)

The links in the above list will direct you to information about venues and tickets.

These are all gonna be great shows, but we’re especially looking forward to that October show. Not only will we be back at one of our favorite venues – we last played at Melodies a couple days before Christmas with Jewmongous – but we’ll be breaking out the acoustic and performing a few songs as Hot Breakfast! as well!

So in conclusion – we love Angela, and we love making music with her, and we’d love to see you at any or all of these shows. And we know you’re gonna love it too. That’s a whole lotta love, Brothers and Sisters.

A whole lotta love,
The Suburban Legend (Matt) and Ji11

You read this whole thing? Sweet! Here’s some dessert for you.

This is the just-released video for “Bring it On,” the first single off Home Before Dark. If the guitar-playing clown looks familiar, that because he’s the same guitar-playing clown who wrote this post1.

 

 

1 If you look carefully, you’ll spot roughly half of the entire Philly/Delaware music scene in the melee as well. I’ll give you a hint about the bass player.