Blog

HughShows Blog has featured thousands of original live band photos and has conducted over 1000 musician interviews (including Brian Wilson, Mavis Staples, and Bruce Hornsby) since starting. With the original ‘First/Last’ questionnaire, you get a sense of where the musician has come from and where they are going with their artistic expression.

First/Last-Jay Arner

“For years, Vancouver multi-instrumentalist Jay Arner has teamed up with others to translate the sounds in his head. He’s fronted an indie rock band, played synthesizers and samplers in a pop duo, manned the drums for a piano-punk songwriter, and held down …

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First/Last-Seth Walker

Posted on October 9, 2013

“Growing up on a commune in rural North Carolina, the son of classically trained musicians, Seth played cello before discovering the guitar. His introduction to the blues came via his Uncle Landon Walker who was both a musician and disc jockey. Before …

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First/Last-Jonny Rodgers

Posted on October 8, 2013

“In addition to touring and recording his songs based around tuned wine glasses, guitar, and electronics, Jonny Rodgers is also a composer and producer, writing chamber, orchestral and choral music for concert and film. His newest material prominently …

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First/Last-New Country Rehab

Posted on October 7, 2013

“New Country Rehab cuts through the clutter of watered-down musical imitations with a modern, high-voltage, alt-country sound. With a knockout combination of sharp innovation and a deep love and knowledge of timeless musical themes and motifs, New …

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First/Last-Krissy Krissy

Posted on October 5, 2013

“I’ve been singing and showboating for as long as I could talk and walk,” says the Brooklyn-bred Krissy Krissy, the 23-year-old sings with a guttural passion nicknamed “Brooklyn’s Finest” by her hometown peers. She has half a million+ hits on YouTube, 50K …

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First/Last-The Show

Posted on October 3, 2013

  “Hitchhiking is owed a large debt to the forming of THE SHOW. This is how Brandon Mitchell met Johnny Saint-Lethal in 2005. From Albuquerque to Pittsburgh, the two talked music and ended up playing several shows together as solo artists. THE SHOW was formed two years later when Saint-Lethal and Mitchell decided, against their […]

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First/Last-Anthony Rankin

Posted on October 2, 2013

“An electric performer who conjures comparisons to Bruno Mars, Anthony Rankin is a graduate of the old school: a faithful student of classic R&B and pop. If Mars is the closest thing in 2013 to Michael Jackson circa Thriller, Anthony Rankin is vintage-correct Purple One: a virtuosic multi-instrumentalist, obsessive self-producer, exhilarating entertainer, and anything-but-average songwriter.” […]

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First/Last-Mascott

Posted on October 1, 2013

“Kendall Jane Meade named her pop group/musical alter ego after her childhood nickname: “I’m the youngest of four kids,” Meade explained. “My mom always called me the mascot of the family. I added the extra ‘t’ to be fancy.” A very busy lady – musically and otherwise – Kendall has also spent a great deal […]

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First/Last-Heavy Hearts Will Anchor

In 2007 I was diagnosed with General Anxiety Disorder and Depression. I was transitioning into college life and not really handling that transition very well. Also at this time my first true long-term relationship had ended and I was left feeling very empty and sad. In my free time I would play guitar and try and write songs but without having the intent to share them with anyone. In 2009 while still learning how to cope with depression and anxiety one of my best friends tragically passed away….

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First/Last-Psychic Friend

“Los Angeles based Psychic Friend has been winning fans over with their winsome brand of “new Californian pop” (SF Bay Guardian). They played their first-ever show at San Francisco’s Noisepop Fest in February, and have since been charming west coast fans at venues like the Silverlake Lounge, and Largo, where they recently shared a bill with Sarah Silverman. When pressed to describe their sound, Schwartz offers the following: “big orchestrated pop songs about [my] transitory life, depression, love, food service, and trying to function without a twitter account. Kind of like the Brill Building re-imagined, or Carole King via Serge Gainsbourg.”…

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First/Last-Young Lyons

“Young Lyons is a four piece alternative pop rock band from Tulsa, OK. The band was formed in spring of 2012 when John Lyons (vocals/guitar) recruited bassist Paul Cristiano and producer Brad Mitcho to collaborate on a new batch of songs. After some quick success writing, John and Paul decided to further their association under the name Young Lyons (a name suggested by Brad) and subsequently added drummer James McGowan and guitarist Brian Gresh. While the band takes it’s cues from the modern electro-pop recipe, Young Lyons certainly isn’t afraid to take chances and has a sound that is solely their own. Their debut EP ‘Crash Course’ was released April 2nd, 2013.”…

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First/Last-Paperhaus

Paperhaus started in a basement in the suburbs of Washington, DC, where guitarists Alex Tebeleff and Eduardo Rivera spent their teenage years playing music together with ears buzzing from Radiohead, Television, and Fela Kuti. Miles away in Philadelphia…

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First/Last-Luke Winslow-King

“Luke Winslow-King (born March 12th 1983) is a guitarist, singer, composer, and lyricist known for his slide guitar work, and interest in pre-war blues and traditional jazz. Winslow-King’s work consists of an eclectic mix, taking in delta-folk music, classical composition, ragtime, and rock and roll; juxtaposing original songs with those from a bygone era. Whether solo, or with a band, Winslow-King offers an original sound that is both rustic and elegant. He delivers energetic and dynamic performances, with his burgundy voice and versatile guitar playing.”…

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First/Last-Pillars and Tongues

“Pillars and Tongues’ music always has one foot in the avant-garde, while never completely abandoning pop, which in this case is gloomy, dark, and dreamy, almost cinematic, evoking pictures of lost and doomed landscapes. The Pass and Crossings is close to nothing contemporary, a truly outstanding piece of sonic art.” – Henning Lahmann (No Fear of Pop)…

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First/Last-The Saturday Giant

“Going to see a show should be about what happens that day, in that room, between that audience and that performer. It shouldn’t be a carbon copy of the same performance from the night before. How I slept, what I ate, the conversations I had, the articles I read: all of those things affect my brain chemistry and how I’m going to interact with the songs that day.
Making art is an incredible opportunity to synthesize and reinterpret our unique lived experiences and reintroduce them to the world as shared dreams of sound and light. If I used canned backing tracks I’d be robbing myself of that opportunity. I want the freedom to make mistakes. Mistakes are far more human and interesting than mechanized accuracy. Be suspicious of anyone who wants to scrub art of its imperfections. As soon as art becomes perfect, it dies.”…

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First/Last-Matt Hopper & The Roman Candles

“Matt Hopper is an American troubadour with rock and roll in his veins, a weathered voice and blues hands. Though currently based in Idaho he cut his teeth on the Alaskan music scene. Hopper has released six albums, both solo and with his band The Roman Candles.”…

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First/Last-Young Fangs

This isn’t your normal“guy-records-album-in-remote-cabin” story… Quite the contrary, actually. There was no hushed introspection, loneliness or sonic sparseness that comes with your usual cabin album. Just rock. The brothers LaBuda and friend Joel Fagre, armed only with their wits and a musical itch, holed themselves up in a cabin and had one hell of a good time…

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First/Last-Historian

“Historian just released a fantastic new EP. Titled Romance, the EP’s tracks can range from light, bouncy and melodic to crushingly heavy, all tied together by frontman Nate Hurst’s morose croon. Here, we see synths of the future spliced with tones of the past, and the result is something that feels fresh and familiar.” – Tyler Pane (Paste)…

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First/Last-Mooner

“Mooner began in 2007 in a bedroom in Oregon, when Lee Ketch started recording songs with an old video camera microphone, playing guitars, bass, keys, and every part of the drum kit, one instrument at a time. Those home recordings were a solitary dude’s love letter to the big guitars and lean melodies of The Heartbreakers, The Attractions, Television and Wilco–the type of tight rock unit a solitary dude can’t be on his own, the type of tight rock unit Mooner is now.”…

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First/Last-Coyotes

“Another band with a difficult-to-Google name, this three-piece nevertheless burns with confidence and swagger. Duz Mancini’s twangy, whiskey-soaked vocals give credence to the band’s alt-country, Americana milieu. Incidentally, the band began life as an Los Angeles-based outfit before settling home in the New Orleans indie rock scene. Considering their brand of music, here’s betting they were more than welcome.” – Mark Rozeman (Paste)…

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