When The Hawkeyes hooked up with Sean McDonald for its latest project, the band didn’t quite know what it was getting itself into.
Hawkeyes frontman Jay Wiley, who met the Pittsburgh producer back in 2015, was impressed by his prior work with The Clarks, Jim Donovan and Gene the Werewolf, among others.
But when McDonald attended a Hawkeyes rehearsal during pre-production, something unexpected happened.
“Sean took me aside,” Wiley says, “and said, ‘Do you have other influences besides Ryan Adams and Drive-By Truckers?’ I said, ‘Sure, I do.’ He said, ‘Are you comfortable with kind of wiping away the Americana part of you guys? You’re a rock singer. You need to sing rock music with a pop sensibility.’ ”
That was a rather bold proposition that, at first, didn’t sit well with Wiley, a roots-rocker steeped in the sound of CCR and The Band.
“I was like, ‘No, this is who we are, flannels and working man and blue collar,’ ” Wiley says. “I fought him for a few months. When I brought songs to him, he would go, ‘Let’s see if we can push it here?’ And like any time of change, you’re going to resist, but in the back of my mind, I knew he was right.”
The result is “Ever For After,” a seven-song EP in the more amped-up rock of The Foo Fighters or Royal Blood, bands they had in mind while making the record. The first and best taste of it hit the airwaves when WDVE put the single “Stone’s Throw Away” into rotation earlier this year.
“That song went through such a metamorphosis from what it was on acoustic,” Wiley says.
The Hawkeyes reboot included not only the sonic makeover but some personnel shifts to make it happen. Guitarist Michael Grego has stayed on, but new to the band are drummer Luke Zajdel and bassist Zach Rovito.
One of the reasons Wiley sensed that this was the right direction was the glut of bands in the genre they had been working.
“I felt that there were too many Americana rock bands out there,” he says, “and I don’t think we’re authentic enough as that kind of band ’cause we just don’t have the stories to tell. I don’t feel authentic doing Americana because I’m not a storyteller. I’m not like Bruce or Ryan Adams. I like to write about introspection and moving forward and willpower. At least, that’s where I am now and this fits with festival-style, big-stage rock. I’ve always loved bands like The Foo Fighters and Green Day and Extreme and Queens of the Stone Age, and I just didn’t think there were that many rock bands out there.”
The release show is at 9 p.m. Friday at the Hard Rock Cafe, Station Square, with Snarfunkle. $12; showclix.com.
RAMBLE ON
Are you ready to Ramble?
Late November is the perfect time for the local jam session inspired by The Band’s “The Last Waltz” in 1978 and the Levon Helm sessions that followed in his Woodstock, N.Y., barn in the 2000s.
Keyboardist, WDVE Morning Show host and Ramble leader Randy Baumann has assembled yet another killer local lineup that includes Clinton Clegg and Mike Minda (The Commonheart), Chet Vincent, Andre Costello, Zoob (Wreck Loose), Molly Alphabet, Addi Twigg (The Telephone Line), Rob James (The Clarks), Phil Brontz and the Ramble Horns, Josh Verbanets (Meeting of Important People) and Jay Wiley (The Hawkeyes).
Last year, they did “The Last Waltz” straight through. This year, they’ll take a cue from Ken Burns.
“The first part of the show,” Baumann explains, “is inspired by the Ken Burns 'Country Music' documentary, the middle part owes a bit to the 'Echo in the Valley' movie that came out last year as well as expanding more on the alt-side of the ‘Country Music’ doc, and then an encore set of ‘Last Waltz’ selections. Everyone kind of felt a little uninspired by doing the full ‘Last Waltz’ only, so this was a good way to bridge the gap.”
Dead And In The Way will open with its Tribute to Ryman/Opry set.
It’s at the Rex Theater, South Side at 8 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $15; eventbrite.com.
BUFFALO HARMONIES
The harmonies are breathtaking on the new EP from Buffalo Rose, a Pittsburgh “soul-grass” band that formed in 2016.
Buffalo Rose started with singer-guitarist Shane McLaughlin, singers Lucy Clabby and Mariko Reid (a former member) and dobro player Malcolm Inglis recording a song for the FoundSound Songwriter Series. With the addition of upright bassist Jason Rafalak and mandolin player Bryce Rabideau, they released the debut EP “Red Wagon” in November 2016 and the full-length album “The Soil and the Seed” in March 2018.
With new addition Rosanna Spindler, Buffalo Rose drops this very organic sounding four-song EP, with lush harmonies and delicate playing. For the release show, they’ll be collaborating with classical brass quintet C Street Brass and drummer George Heid III, who were featured on the EP.
It’s the first Buffalo Rose release for Misra Records. The show is at 7 p.m. Saturday at This is Red, a repurposed church 605 E 9th Ave. in Homestead. $15; buffalorosemusic.com
IGLAR DOUBLES UP
Dave Iglar is one of Pittsburgh’s longest-running guitar heroes, going back to the ’80s when he played in Force Field and with Shari Richards as Dave and Shari and in the ’90s with Dave Iglar and the Igniters.
Continuing to work in the spirit of influences like Roy Buchanan, Eric Clapton and Carlos Santana, Iglar is about to release a new, 32-song album called “The Guitarnival” which he says will run the gamut of “rock, blues, jazz, Americana, world beat and avant-garde.”
He’s joined by his daughter Andrea Iglar on sax, vocals and guitar; keyboardist Joel Tischuk; bassist Chuck Simon; percussionist Mark DeMeno; and drummer David ‘D-Kat” Katalin.
Asked about the hefty number of songs on “The Guitarnival,” Iglar said, “Heck, I had more, but I had to stop somewhere!”
The Dave Iglar Band plays the release show at Moondog’s, Blawnox, at 8:30 p.m. Friday. The $10 ticket includes the double album (CD or download); moondogs.us.
First Published: November 19, 2019, 1:09 p.m.
