King Sunshine

Sunday, August 21

Forget about the lone electronic musician with nothing more than a laptop and some fancy software, or the dueling synthesizer acts, King Sunshine is the real deal, spurting out electro-disco grooves as a full nine-piece band. Those soulful diva vamps actually emerge from the throat of a real life diva, singer Miss Maya, and those funky, deep bass lines come from the fingers of live bassist Marc Shapiro. Formed in Toronto in 1998, the band was originally conceived as a five piece but quickly went all out, morphing into the nine-piece disco outfit it is today. This is music created for the dance floor, be it the grassy ground of festivals around the world, the glossy wood of a hot nightclub, or the cement floor of underground warehouses like Buffalo’s now defunct Plant, which the band rocked to the ground in the early 2000s. “DJ culture and the dance floor has always been an influence over the band’s sound and musical direction,” said bassist and band leader Marc Shapiro. The Canadian band’s music is just as flexible as any DJ, bouncing from straight brassy disco on tracks like “Unity” and “At the Party” from their 2006 album Second Movement, to deep bossa-house on “Sounds of June” off of their 2003 self-titled album, and repetitive techno on their Theo Parrish collaborations “Mess I Made” and “Ascension.” King Sunshine will perform at Nietzsche’s this Sunday (Aug 21) with support from post-rockers Lazlo Hollyfeld, who make their return after a brief hiatus. To read the full interview with King Sunshine’s Marc Shapiro go to the Exit Music blog at blogs.artvoice.com/exitmusic. —cory perla

9pm. Nietzsche’s, 248 Allen St. (886-8539 / nietzsches.com). $8 advance, $10 day of show. 21+.

Thursday, August 18th

Terry Sullivan

The Blue Monk is certainly one of the best spots in the city to grab a delicious, highly alcoholic beer, but live music? Not until now. On Thursday (tonight!) Buffalo native and national recording artist Terry Sullivan will bring a stripped down “Low Lamp Session” to the Blue Monk on the Elmwood strip. Sullivan has a swagger that can be likened to Bowie, Jagger, or Morison, recalling the heyday of rock n’ roll with a mixture of deep cut covers—from bands like the Rolling Stones, the Zombies, and Buffalo Springfield—and original music that is sure to please the true rock n’ roll aficionado. Joining him for this Low Lamp Session will be David Kane on keyboards, guitarist Bob Kozak, and drummer Howard Fleetwood Wilson. Inducted into the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame in the 1990s after performing with bands like Celibates, the Restless, the Headhunters, the Jumpers, and Dollywatchers, Sullivan is a veteran of the local scene who has played with some of Buffalo’s most talented musicians. Don’t miss him at the Blue Monk tonight. —h. timpson

9pm. The Blue Monk, 727 Elmwood Ave. (882-6665 / bluemonkbflo.com).

Friday, August 19th

Mr. Big

The 1990s are back. Mr. Big, the band responsible for one of the most distinguishable sing-a-longs of all time, have embarked on their first US tour in 13 years to promote their new album What If..., and come to the Town Ballroom this Friday (Aug 19). The original lineup of Eric Martin, Pat Torpey, Billy Sheehan and Paul Gilbert reunited in 2009 after a tumultuous breakup in 2002, and put the finishing touches on their first studio release with the original lineup since 1996’s Hey Man. It’s easy to peg Mr. Big’s notoriety to their hit single “To Be With You,” which spent weeks as the Billboard Hot 100 #1 single, but the fact remains that Mr. Big carved out their own niche in 1990s rock lore with superior musicianship and a string of solid albums during their career. Aside from “To Be With You,” Mr. Big is as straight-ahead rock as you can get, with bonafide shredders in Gilbert on guitar and Sheehan on bass giving the band a Van Halen-esque appeal and metal edge.Their new album, What If..., starts right where the band left off, with the instantly memorable “I Get the Feeling” and “Around the World” showcasing the Gilbert-Sheehan dynamic in full effect, along with Eric Martin’s fluid vocals. Whether you just want to throw your arm around someone and drunkenly belt out “To Be With You,” or actually hear what these guys have to offer in the 21st century, you’ll find that Mr. Big is still at the top of their game all these years later, proving that good music by good musicians never goes out-of-date. —jon wheelock

7pm. Town Ballroom, 681 Main St. (852-3900 / townballroom.com). $28 advance, $32 day of show.

Saturday, August 20th

5pm early show: Pentimento / 11pm late show: Irving Klaws

Buffalo melodic punk rockers Pentimento aren’t concerned with the bells and whistles that come along with being a newly-signed punk band. The four “normal dudes” have been in and out of bands since they were 13, so they were especially humbled and grateful when a Panic Records rep contacted them only two weeks after self-releasing their first EP on an online music message board. These same frenzied, yet honest tracks off their first EP, titled Wrecked, can be heard on Saturday (Aug 20) at Mohawk Place, the kickoff show on their upcoming tour with the Jersey boys from Heartwell. If you’re one to cope with heartache through music, Wrecked will do the trick, with tracks like “The Rules of Attraction” and “Everything’s Eventual,” taking you for a rocky ride down the rollercoaster of romance. Later in the night, Buffalo’s own garage rockers, the Irving Klaws (pictured), admittedly named after Betty Page’s photographer, will surface for their one and only appearance of the summer. With a 15 year history behind them, the trio is bound to put on a high-energy performance during the second show of the night, the “Cross Border Rockin’ Show,” unleashing all the juice built up from the past couple months. Toronto’s Blue Mercury Coupe and DJ Rockin’ Dave Faris are also in the mix to deliver loud and explosive tracks. Check out the early show or the late show, or both, but make sure you pace yourselves for what’s to come. —emilie hagen

5pm. Mohawk Place, 47 E. Mohawk St. (465-2368 / themohawkplace.com). $8 advance, $10 day of show.

11pm. Mohawk Place, 47 E. Mohawk St. (465-2368 / themohawkplace.com). $6.

Saturday, August 20th

Hawthorne Heights

Club Diablo will host an matinee performance by the post-hardcore band Hawthorne Heights on Saturday (Aug 20). The band did exceptionally well in the years following their Victory Records debut, The Silence in Black and White (2004) and the memorable “Ohio is for Lovers” track; not only did this album receive gold status, but their sophomore album If Only You Were Lonely (2006) did as well. Hawthorne Heights appeals to a variety of listeners due to their genre-bending history; the band is usually referred to as emo, screamo or pop punk, but has also been recognized as melodic hardcore since the release of If Only You Were Lonely. The day after Hawthorne Heights kicked off their 2007 U.S. tour, lead guitarist Casey Calvert was found dead in the band’s tour bus from combined drug intoxication. Devastated, the band collected their reflections and dedicated the tracks “Four Become One” and “Sugar in the Engine” to Calvert. Less than a year later, the band released their most pop tinged record to date, Fragile Future, and since then have returned to the original styles custom to their first two albums with their most recent release in 2010, Skeletons. Check out Hawthrone Heights with openers the Cant, I Can See Mountains, and the Blank Shots. —rachelle toarmino

1pm. Club Diablo, 517 Washington St. (842-0666 / clubdiablo.com). $5 advance, $7 day of show.

Tuesday, August 23rd

Purity Ring

It will take you approximately seven minutes to listen to pop-chillwave duo Purity Ring’s entire recorded discography. That won’t be the end of your Purity Rings listening experience though, because their single “Ungirthed” and its B-side “Lofticries” will most likely have you hitting the repeat button. These morphing synthesizer tracks—half way between Lali Puna’s electro-indie sound and Com Truise’s inter-galactic, tone melting mid-fi (Com Truise will jump onto the second half of the band’s tour along with Neon Indian)—are instantly appealing. But will the project—started by Corin Roddick of noise-pop outfit Gobble Gobble and female vocalist Megan James—be able to sustain their instantly appealing sound on a full-length record format? Only time will tell, but don’t miss this opportunity to catch Purity Ring at Mohawk Place while they’re still firmly planted in the underground. Like-minded Buffalo based dance duo Love Scenes open the show with indie-rockers Early Attic on Tuesday (Aug 23). —cory perla

7pm. Mohawk Place, 47 E. Mohawk St. (465-2368 / themohawkplace.com). $10 advance, $12 day of show.

Thursday, August 25

Brothers Past

Electro-pop ridden punk-funk in a cave of crystallized wistfulness: that’s how I’d describe Philadelphia four-piece Brother’s Past, who will be hitting Soundlab next Thursday (August 25). These free-spirited fauxto-punks specialize in a punk-jam hybrid, creating a sound that falls somewhere between Bowie and Bossa Nova. Formed in 2000 by guitarist/vocalist Tom Hamilton, keyboardist Tom McKee, bassist Clay Parnell, and drummer Rick Lowenberg, Brother’s Past has released three studio albums and one EP, hitting their peak in 2005 with the critically hailed This Feeling’s Called Goodbye. Following the release of their 2005 self-affirming masterpiece, along with relentless touring in the albums wake, the band unexpectedly called it quits…temporarily. With drummer Lowenberg leaving to pursue his luck in environmental law, and tasting less than buttery success with the drummer’s replacement, the band concluded that a hiatus was their next best move. After taking off most of 2008, the band reunited for a show on New Years Eve in West Chester, Pennsylvania, selling out the venue in less time than an episode of Pepper Ann. Brother’s Past has since resumed touring, but yet to release a follow-up to the acclaimed This Feeling’s Called Goodbye. Funk-rockers Pia Mater open the show. —brett perla

9pm. Soundlab, 110 Pearl St. (440-5907 / bigorbitgallery.org/soundlab). $13. 18+.