Save Ferris
Formed in 1995, Save Ferris remains one of the seminal and most beloved bands from the third wave of ska. The group’s Orange County home was fertile ground for a thriving music scene, with punk, rock, and ska emerging from the region. Save Ferris blended the best elements of these sounds to help bring the region’s sound to the world. The group’s humble beginnings saw them play house parties and local venues, powered by Monique Powell’s high-octane vocals. Save Ferris’ live show instantly became a hit. As the word spread, the band got a much-needed boost. Legendary KROQ DJ Rodney Bingenheimer got a hold of the band’s self-released album. He played their cover of Dexys Midnight Runners “Come on Eileen” on his Rodney on the ROQ show and the response was overwhelming. Soon thereafter, Kevin Weatherly picked up the song and it was added to the legendary taste-making rock station’s rotation. All of this happened independently without a record label and with Powell serving as the singer and band manager. Major labels started noticing the buzz that was emanating from Orange County. In 1996, the band won a Grammy showcase award for best unsigned band, and with Epic Records’ David Massey as one of the judges, Save Ferris would sign with the label. Epic re-released the Introducing Save Ferris EP and, in 1997, Save Ferris unleashed their debut album, It Means Everything. Save Ferris toured the world for the better part of the next six years, with 1999’s Modified released during that time. In 2003, the band went on a hiatus. Starting in 2004, Powell switched gears and used her vocal talents to become a go-to studio musician. She appeared on albums for The Used, Goldfinger, Foxy Shazam, Lost Prophets, Mest, and Hilary Duff, among many others. Slowly, however, Powell started having health issues. In 2015, after years of painful back issues, she underwent a risky procedure to fix her broken neck that could have damaged her greatest musical weapon: her vocal cords. Ahead of the procedure, Powell made a promise to her father, who had been begging her to return to the stage: if the surgery was successful, she’d bring back Save Ferris. And it was a success. That year, Powell, with a new cast of characters, reformed Save Ferris. The hype surrounding the band was massive. After months of rehabilitation, Powell brought Save Ferris home to Orange County where it played a sold-out show at the Pacific Amphitheater in Costa Mesa. Another giant show at the Santa Monica Pier, with over 20,000 people in attendance, was put out on vinyl. These raucous shows proved that the band wasn’t just back, but ready to roar. Through a crowdfunded campaign in 2016, Powell and her bandmates went into the studio to record a new EP. Titled Checkered Past, the collection was released the following year, and produced by John Avila of Oingo Boingo. The EP featured an appearance by Neville Staple of The Specials, one of Powell’s favorite artists. Following Checkered Past’s release, Save Ferris played the entire 2017 Warped Tour on the main stage, headlined shows, and played festivals across the world. The future is as bright as it has been for Save Ferris in a long time. Powell scrapped a record she wrote prior to the pandemic and is currently at work on the first new Save Ferris album in nearly two decades. The band recently packed the House of Blues in Anaheim, playing in front of fans of all ages. Powell is the centerpiece of the action. Her dazzling on- stage presence continues to wow audiences and the band’s energy is infectious. Save Ferris are out to prove that they’re no nostalgia act, with their best days still ahead of them.
Sarah Kinsley
New York’s Sarah Kinsley is fascinated by creating imaginary worlds and alternate realities. She tries to conjure these with her music, but it requires the unlocking of one’s imagination to really go there. Sarah encourages you to try it though. We all need an escape. Born in California, and raised in Connecticut and Singapore before returning to New York to attend Columbia University, this perfectly unusual leftfield pop singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist (Sarah plays the piano, synth, guitar, ondes Martenot, glass bowls, and some violin on her recent debut album Escaper) studied music and was creating much positive noise and conversation online long before she had signed a record deal. Everything she was putting out was home-spun; selfproduced, self-written and self-performed. Sarah made a habit of documenting her process, and it was one such video, uploaded in response to the misconception that “Women don’t produce music” that documented Sarah recording the sounds of tapping on a desk, opening a door, switching on a light, thumping on a mattress and flicking a wine glass, splicing them all together and forming the introduction to a prior EP track, Over + Under, that captured the imagination of a young audience who have been feverishly following her every move since. Sarah grew up in the world of classical music, studying the likes of Chopin, Debussy, and Ravel. She started out behind the piano before playing violin in the perfectionas-necessity world of orchestra. Meanwhile, this disciplined student of music was a teenager falling in love with the exciting, “unsubstantial” pop music that dominated Top 200 radio. Debut LP Escaper in some ways marries many of those unlikely contexts—substantial pop that flowers with lush string arrangements. “I’m just such a sucker for massive, grand songs,” she says. “I think it’s the classical musician in me who loves symphonies and the magnum opus effect.” Named one of Vevo’s Artists to Watch in 2024, Sarah has met sold out audiences singing her songs in unison right across the US and Europe. There’s something very communal about the experiences that Sarah and her band manage to evoke. The young crowd is feverish, greeting each song like an old hit, and forgetting themselves for some time in her company, allowing Sarah to massage their imaginations. Support tours, headline tours, and early festival appearances – it’s as exciting to her fans in the UK and Europe as it is to those in the US. They’re turning up in their droves and traveling miles and miles (and miles) to see her.
BabyJake
Florida-born Jake Herring, known professionally as BabyJake, may have appeared to be an overnight success, but his journey to the spotlight was anything but instantaneous. His hit single Cigarettes on Patios took off in 2019, garnering 200M+ streams and earning him a certified gold record and a major label deal. He would release two albums from the same vine, until the upheaval of the pandemic saw him splitting with his label and at a pivotal turning point. But giving up was never an option for Jake, and his resilience set him on a new path: an ascetic journey to rediscover himself, shedding his shag haircut in favor of a buzzcut, naked skin marked by the tattoos he collected along his journey. He found the answer on his latest album Beautiful Blue Collar Boy, a bouquet of songs rooted in the beauties and hardships of day to day life. Drawing influence from the likes of Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and Jeff Tweedy, BabyJake stays true to his north star of confident storytelling and songwriting. On Beautiful Blue Collar Boy, Jake trades in the late night parties for the simplicity of authenticity, hard work, and a meaningful life to come home to. This chapter of BabyJake reveals a man stripped down to his American roots, with each song painting a small vignette of BabyJake’s blue collar dreams. Now planted in Nashville, TN, Jake returns to us as a Beautiful Blue Collar Boy.
Future Islands
VIP PACKAGE INCLUDES: One (1) Premium Balcony – OR – General Admission ticket • Invitation to an exclusive pre-show experience with Future Islands, including:• Access to the last 2-3 songs of the band’s soundcheck• Q&A Session with the band• One (1) VIP exclusive 7″ with previously unreleased music, signed by the band• One (1) commemorative VIP laminate• Merchandise shopping prior to doors opening to the public• Priority entry into the venue _______ If Future Islands’ songs once seemed like invitations to witness scenes from someone else’s life, People Who Aren’t There Anymore presents the whole absorbing saga, transmuting hurt to hope in the triumph of this band’s career. Here is excitement, devastation, understanding, and the dawn’s rays of redemption in 44 minutes—a record that, at last, commits the full rapture of Future Islands to tape. From their start, Future Islands have been singular and instantly identifiable. Samuel T. Herring’s life-worn croons and cries backlit by Gerrit Welmers’ melodies and charged by the rhythms of William Cashion and Michael Lowry. That premise hasn’t changed on People Who Aren’t There Anymore, but the people have. There’s a pain and a joy that’s in Herring’s voice that’s only been rivaled by their legendary live performances, but never captured in their studio albums, that feels like it’s been untethered for the first time. Future Islands have played nearly 1,500 shows – shows that have bruised bodies, frayed vocal cords, provided escapes for audiences, and healed their messengers. People Who Aren’t There Anymore is a major work from a band at an inflection point: they’re discovering new ways to experience the world, because the old ways weren’t working. That freedom has led to the most fully realized, most transparently honest statement in their 17 years as a band.
Marlon Funaki
Bay Faction
Borne out of an online message board, Bay Faction emerged in the Boston DIY scene in 2015 with the debut of their self-titled record. It was the first release on Counter Intuitive Records with the band’s album pressed on highly coveted vinyl. Following its release, Bay Faction spent 2 years rigorously touring nationwide, developing a cult-like following. After graduation, the band relocated to New York, and camped out in a suburban New Jersey basement to write and record their sophomore record Florida Guilt. The record marked a departure from their earlier style, trading in a conventional rock setup for sampled drums, synths, and vocal processing, embodying the ethos they had long sought to define. Highsnobiety named Bay Faction as “your favorite band you haven’t heard of yet” and nationwide touring ensued to promote their album. On the heels of the pandemic, Bay Faction bid farewell with the release of Swan Dive, their final song before entering hiatus. Now, in 2024, the band relaunched with a sold out tour and release of new singles Drive Home, Eye Sore, and Sunshine, from their highly anticipated forthcoming EP.
Finom
buffchick
The Farewell Season
The Farewell Season plays music made for a long drive down a back highway. The band slides effortlessly from Americana, to folk, to indie and back again. What started as friends passing time across the internet during the pandemic turned into a band that splits time between Omaha and the Twin Cities these days. Formed by frontman Nate Gasaway (The Big Deep) and drummer Taylor Stein (Ten O’Clock Scholars), the lineup is rounded out by Paul Gedbaw on guitar and Justin Crow on bass; both veterans of the Nebraska music scene.
Cryogeyser
