Happy Pre-Valentines Day! The Explorers Club new CD / LP GRAND HOTEL comes out Feb 14th, and if you ask  The Explorers Club founder Jason Brewer about his hopes for the band’s sophomore album, GRAND HOTEL,  he’ll tell you straight up: “We really want this record to make a lot of people smile, to inject some positivity into the world. Let’s stop making things so serious and introspective, and get away on a musical vacation so we can bring a little bit of joy to people.”

They are playing Vinyl Feb, 10th. Enter below to win some free tickets!
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If you were to look up the word “perseverance” in the almighty handbook of heavy metal, there may very well be a photo of Canadian metalists, Anvil. Since their 1981 debut, Hard N’ Heavy, the group – which was co-founded by singer/guitarist Steve “Lips” Kudlow and drummer Robb Reiner – has been listed by many as one of the creators of the thrash/speed metal genre (especially on such Chris Tsangarides-produced classics as 1982’s Metal on Metal and 1983’s Forged in Fire). Anvil have never stopped rocking, and with the arrival of the critically-acclaimed/surprise hit film, “Anvil! The Story of Anvil” (directed by Sacha Gervasi), the group is back where they belong – at the forefront of heavy metal.

Anvil are playing the Hard Rock Cafe’s Velvet Underground, and we are giving away  a pair of tickets to the show and a gift card for $25 toward dinner (can’t use on alcohol or retail). Enter below to win!

How would you like to to have a pair of VIP tickets for the entire 2012 concert series! The Alpharetta Convention and Visitors Bureau is giving away two prime seats for the full 2012 season, including parking and VIP Club access.  The event lineup will be announced beginning in early 2012.  Enter to win and find out why this incredible venue is a favorite with fans across the region.

The Particulars

To enter, visit www.awesomealpharetta.com and sign up for the Alpharetta CVB newsletter.  One winner will be drawn from the contestants who sign up between January 1 and March 31, 2012.  One entry per person.  The winner will be announced April 1.

We have a ton of great giveaways for upcoming shows at Smith’s Olde Bar! Use the form at the bottom of the post to enter, or buy tickets at the buttons.

Local lovely with the song of a bird, Adron coos to the crowds on January 20 with Wesley Cook.

Members of Outformation, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band and The Neville Brothers make up The New Orleans Suspects, who play with A Nickel Bag of Funk on January 21.

Founding member of Allman Brothers Band, Jaimoe’s Jasssz Band plays Smith’s Olde Bar on January 22.

Funky roots band The Dirty Guv’nahs play with local favorites The District Attorneys and The Longshot Saints on January 27.

Soulful southern rockers Radiolucent play with Jason Childs on January 28.

Grammy-nominated South Carolina country star David Ball plays with Atlanta’s first lady of jazz Francine Reed on February 4.

We’re going to keep on going with the giveaways today. Here’s some great giveaways from The Loft. As always, fill out the form below for your chance to win.

Circa Survive’s Anthony Green plays with The Dear Hunter on January 25.

Last year’s Vans Warped Tour darlings and Hot Topic favorites D.R.U.G.S. play The Loft on January 28 with Hit the Lights, Like Moths to Flames and Spark the Rescue.

Missing that feeling of getting lots of presents and goodies? Don’t worry – we have the cure for your holiday hangover. It’s giveaways! Fill out the form below for your chance to win a pair of tickets to these fab shows at Vinyl.

Locally loved rockers Ocha la Rocha play with The Mastersons (featuring Chris Masterson of Son Volt) on January 14.

Gabe Dixon continues his happy solo career, playing a gig with Lelia Broussard opening on January 26.

Collective Soul’s Joel Kosch headlines while The Dreaded Marco opens on January 28.

By Eileen Tilson/ @tktalt_tn

The first time I saw The Kicks was two years ago at the Hard Rock Cafe in Atlanta opening up for Ben Deignan. I remember going to the show, prepared to see a baby band, and being surprised by the authenticity and potential talent the band possessed. Well, my hunch was right because in those two years Nashville natives, The Kicks have gone on to play at prestigious festivals such as Austin City Limits & South By Southwest, as well as having their single “Hawk Eyes”  and “Shake it Loose” featured on hit TV shows such as, Vampire Diaries, Pretty Little Liars, and The Real World. Looking to get back into the studio this year with Grammy winners Mitch Dane (Jars of Clay) and Vance Powell (The Raconteurs, Kings of Leon, The White Stripes) we chatted with Jordan and Adam before their show this Saturday at Smith’s Olde Bar, which they are playing with Atlanta’s sons, Red Letter Agent. BE SURE TO ENTER BELOW FOR A CHANCE TO WIN TICKETS TO THE SHOW!

What was the first gig you ever went to?

Jordan: Mine was The Doobie Brothers! I was around ten years old in Hilton Head with my parents. It was a Hawaiian shirt & Dockers heaven! It was like being in a crowd of about 30,000 of my parents!

Adam: Mine was Michael Bolton when I was seven. My parents took me. It is amazing how hard you can fall with a bad perm!

What is the best gig that you ever played/performed at?

Adam: I would have to say probably ACL ( Austin City Limits). It was just so cool to be around all these other monsters of bands. We were walking around with acts like Muse and The Black Keys.  For me personally, I learned how to play guitar watching Stevie Ray Vaughn play on the ACL TV show. There is just something about the energy that gets captured in a room; it makes us remember that we go out on stage to create an experience.

Jordan: I think our most memorable gig was probably in the infant days of The Kicks. We played in St. Louis with a 13 piece rap group called 13 Spade, and we pretty much thought we were gonna die. They kept passing the mic around, not looking very gangsta, but they totally were.

What is the best gig you have ever been to?

Adam- For me it is a toss up between seeing Paul McCartney at Piedmont Park or seeing U2 at Vanderbilt Stadium.

Jordan: I was with Adam at McCartney which was obviously incredible, but for me, seeing My Morning Jacket in Nashville was life changing. I saw them before we even started The Kicks, and they inspired me to want to start a rock band. After seeing them, I knew they were a modern day beast live. What we do live with The Kicks is very inspired from seeing them; they are simply a wall of sound.

Gig you would most like to play?

Adam: I would love to play Wimbley Stadium having 80-100,000 people all there to see one show. That’s pretty awesome.

Jordan: um, Royal Albert Hall! But being from Nashville, it would be pretty meaningful for me to sell out the Ryman. I know it’s not the biggest venue, but I believe it is a place that all Nashville artists aspire to play.

What would be the lineup for your dream gig?

Well I think we would have to be direct support for the Beatles, and we would let them headline, since you can’t really get any bigger than that. Throw a little Zeppelin in there and oh how about some Queen. Would be cool to have the Stones in there, and we could have Crosby Stills & Nash open. We would play in Rio in front of a million folks like the Stones did.

Catch The Kicks Jan. 7th w/ Red Letter Agent and Indianapolis Jones at Smith’s Olde Bar

By Al Kaufman

Do you know how about 400,000 actually attended Woodstock but a few million claim that they did? Well, lower that down a notch or two and you have the situation at The EARL on December 29 when Diamond Rugs play their very first show. There will be a couple hundred people there, but years from now, thousands will have claimed to be.

Diamond Rugs is the creation of musical savant John McCauley. McCauley fronts the Rhode Island band Deer Tick*, who quietly put out one of the best CDs of 2011 with Divine Providence, a heartfelt, indie rock gem. McCauley also has a side project called Middle Brother, but he found himself with a few minutes of free time recently and decided to record a new CD. While doing so, he went backstage at a Los Lobos show and convinced Steve Berlin to come into the studio with him. Then things mushroomed and Ian Saint Pe of Atlanta’s Black Lips signed on. So did Hardy Morris of the Athens band  Dead Confederate and Bryan Dufresne of Rhode Island’s Six Finger Satellite. Fellow Tick Robbie Crowell rounded out the band on bass. The boys discovered they liked playing together and, instead of just serving as an incredible studio band for McCauley,  they began working on music together. Their album will be out in the spring of 2012 on Partisan Records. But while we wait, they have released “Christmas in a Chinese Restaurant,” a drunken and depressing acoustic Christmas song which, while fun, is not indicative of the harder edge sound that encompasses the rest of their forthcoming CD. However, it does answer the question of what kind of carol would Paul Westerberg and Shane MacGowan write after going off on a weekend bender together.

McCauley, like all of Diamond Rugs, writes music that pulls at your heart strings and your funny bone, but never forgets about your ears as well. These are great rock songs from what could be the next great rock band.

We have a pair of tickets up for grabs for their EARL show. Just fill out the form below for your chance to win.

*Fun fact — Deer Tick occasionally performs as a Nirvana cover band under the moniker Deervana.

foster the people :: heart of gold (neil young cover) live at criminal records, atlanta, ga 6/30/2011 from Emily Hogan on Vimeo.

Foster the People will return to Atlanta on June 7 and we’re giving away tickets! Fill out the form below to enter.

Los Angeles-based indie-pop three-piece Foster the People have been rocking crowds all over since 2009. Since their hit song “Pumped Up Kicks” went viral, they’ve been unstoppable. They released their debut album, Torches, in May 2011. They’ve topped the rock charts, appeared on popular talk shows, and they’ve gained success with both indie and mainstream audiences. The last time they were here in Atlanta they played a free, acoustic in-store to a packed crowd at Criminal Records and sold out the Masquerade Music Park.

Tickets go one sale for their show at the Verizon Wireless at Encore Park on Friday, December 16. Tickets will be available HERE.

Check out the video of Foster the People covering “Heart of Gold” above.

Enter below to win a a pair of tickets to see  Fallen Arrows’s as they present Vince Guaraldis’ “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” at The Earl on Dec. 16 & 17th. Featuring performances by T.T. Mahony- Jeffrey Butzer
Chad Shivers and Friends (performing “The Ventures Christmas Album”)
Jeffrey Butzer and the Bicycle Eaters.