Authority Zero

Wednesday, April 2

On their latest album, Tipping Point, Mesa, Arizona punk band Authority Zero pick up where punk left off in the early 2000’s. Not to say that Authority Zero weren’t around to help form the hardcore-skate punk style that dominated the late 1990s and early 2000s, but with a constantly rotating turnstile of lineup changes, the band that formed in 1994 feels like new again on their latest effort. It’s no surprise that this record comes out on Hardline Entertainment, the record label founded by Pennywise guitarist Fletcher Dragge, since the basic sound of Tipping Point is the sort of melodic skate-punk that Pennywise pioneered in the early 1990s. Producer Cameron Webb, who has worked with bands like Pennywise, Motorhead, and Social Distortion, helped the band create a sound that pays tribute to old school punk while mixing in ska and SoCal punk without diving too deep into the hooky guitar riffs of mainstream pop punk. The band’s vocalist, guitarist, and founding member Jason DeVore leads with the same kind of catchy yet aggressive vocals that he honed on records like A Passage In Time, Adiamo, and 12:34. Authority Zero comes to the Waiting Room on Wednesday (April 2) with support from Donald Spence.

- cory perla

6pm The Waiting Room, 334 Delaware Ave (852-3900 / K) $13 advance, $15 day of show

Thursday, March 27

Misfits

Arguably one of the most influential American punk bands in history, Misfits continue to rage out on stage to horror punk classics like “We Are 138” and “Dig Up Her Bones” nearly 40 years after their formation. Formed in Lodi, New Jersey in 1977 by vocalist Glenn Danzig and bassist Jerry Only, Only is ironically the only remaining original member of the band 37-years out. The next most tenured member is 52-year old singer/guitarist Dez Cadena, who has been in the band for 13 years, longer than the majority of punk bands last. After taking over a decade off, from 1984 to 1995, the band reformed to the mixed emotions of fans. Those sentiments have faded though and most fans these days leave their shows without being disappointed by the band’s mixture of reinvented classics and songs from more recent efforts like 2011’s The Devil’s Rain, which is (naturally) named after a 1970s low budget horror film (starring William Shatner and Ernest Borgnine) of the same name. Don’t miss Misfits when they come to Buffalo Iron Works on Thursday.

- cory perla

7pm Buffalo Iron Works, 49 Illinois St. (200-1893 / buffaloironworks.com) $25 advance, $30 day of show

Friday, March 28

Upright Citizens Brigade

The Upright Citizens Brigade is one of the most well-known and influential improve/sketch groups in the country. Originally based out of Chicago, the group moved to New York City in 1996 and opened another location in Los Angelas in 2005. UCB helped pave the way for many comic writers and performers, including many who went on to Saturday Night Live like Amy Poehler, Horatio Sanz, Kate McKinnon, and Bobby Moynihan. The group has also brought other comedy stars to prominence such as Ed Helms (The Office), Andy Daly (Eastbound & Down, Mad TV), and Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer (Broad City). Most recently, UCB member Jordan Klepper was chosen to replace John Oliver on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. UCB performs comedy at their New York and Los Angelas locations seven days a week. If that wasn’t enough, there’s UCB’s road crew, TourCo. The format of the traveling show is part-Whose Line is it Anyway, part-SNL. The group creates an entirely improvised show based off of one audience participant at the beginning of the show. Don’t miss UCB’s TourCo when they stop stop at The Waiting Room this Friday (March 28).

- jonny moran

8pm The Waiting Room, 334 Delaware Ave (852-3900 / waitingroombuffalo.com) $20 advance, $25 day of. 18+

Friday, March 28

The Gypsy Parlor Presents! Acoustic Showcase

One of the newest open mic nights in Buffalo happens at the Gypsy Parlor on Tuesday nights. To supplement their Tuesday night open mic night, which they’ve dubbed TuTu Tuesday, they’re picking some of their favorite open mic participants to be part of a monthly showcase they’re calling Gypsy Parlor Presents. The first is an Acoustic Showcase featuring musicians Ryan Bzibziak, Ben Uytiepo, Pat Butler of garage-rock band the Sleepy Ha-Has, Nathan Wolcott and Tommy McCraith otherwise known as Cat People (pictured), and Ryan Howze. Howze, who is known primarily as a DJ and electronic music producer who goes by the name AreHouse, will pick up an acoustic guitar for this first showcase. “Singer/songwriters in Buffalo are slept on in my opinion,” he says. “This is something different for Buffalo.” The Gypsy Parol Presents! Acoustic Showcase series begins this Friday (March 28).

- cory perla

8pm-11pm Gypsy Parlor, 376 Grant St. (551-0001 / thegypsyparlor.com) $3

Saturday, March 29

Doctor P & Cookie Monsta

For a stint, Doctor P’s heavy bass-laden track “Sweet Shop” was played in many DJ sets. It became the anthem of 2009 with upbeat piano, quick drums and pitched up vocals asking to “take me higher.” Britain born Doctor P, otherwise known as Shaun Brockhurst, is recognized as a pivotal producer, especially when heavier dubstep was on the come-up. Now he’s on his Grand Central Tour, which MNM Presents will hold at Town Ballroom this Saturday (March 29). In 2009, Doctor P, Flux Pavilion, DJ Swan-E, and Earl Falconer gathered to form Circus Records, which has since become home to artists such as Brown and Gammon, FuntCase, Roksonix, and Slum Dogz. Mizuki and Cookie Monsta, who are joining Doctor P for the Grand Central Tour, are also signed to the label. Cookie Monsta became obsessed with music before his teenage years, and was directed later in life after being inspired by the iconic artist Skream. Cookie Monsta says “If you’re passionate about making music and you know you want to make music then knuckle down and stay on it. If people doubt you carry on, no matter how bad things get. Music isn’t my hobby, it’s my life.” With a manga inspired moniker, Mizuki takes his productions down a futuristic path, reveling in the sounds of artists such as Rob Swire and KOAN Sound. Brother Bear will open the show as local support.

- alicia greco

8pm Town Ballroom, 681 Main St. (852-3900 / townballroom.com) $22 advance, $25 day of show

Saturday, March 29

Wussy

In an era when the most technically impressive vocalists are sandbagged by Auto-Tune; when post-rock and dance music is preponderantly instrumental and exceedingly digital, and when so much indie favors voices that are automated, and genteel, it’s unsurprising that hard-boiled indie rock bands like Wussy fall below the radar. Since 2001, Cincinnati’s Wussy has released five albums, each as good as the one that came before. Their sixth studio album, Attica! drops this May, and let’s hope they finally get the recognition they deserve. Front-couple, Chuck Cleaver (vocals, guitar) and Lisa Walker (vocals, guitar) offer the perfect marriage of the exalted and the down-to-earth, giving Wussy a gender equality that’s unprecedented. Lisa, supple and tattooed, wields a naturally full, sultry voice sculpted by a midwestern accent, while Chuck’s rough voice milks the hick factor in his pitch-challenged falsetto quaver. Their constant indelible melodicism perpetuates their fan base with a level of consistency that’s been compared to that of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Their compellingly dire-sounding set of grabby tracks suck you in with no hope for escape. It’s not just their refrains either—it’s the intros, the verses, the guitar licks, the vocal interpolations, the bass and keyboard parts, and every other component that ties each shabbily tuneful track together. Wussy will play at Nietzsche’s on Saturday (March 29).

- kellie powell

9pm Nietzsche’s, 248 Allen St. (886-8539 / nietzsches.com) $5, 21+

Sunday, March 30

The Vette Fête

Have you voted yet for Best Urban Garden in AV’s annual Best of Buffalo poll? If not, and even if you have, here’s another way to cast your vote: Get thee to Nietszche’s this Sunday afternoon (March 30) for the third annual VETTE Fête, a fundraiser thrown by the Virginia, Edward, Trinity, Tupper, Elmwood Block Club to benefit the Trinity/Tupper Grassroots community garden. The musical lineup is par excellence: the Stamplickers, one of the city’s most rocking, feel-good cover bands; the innovative indie-folk Americana act the Observers (pictured); an acoustic set by the incomparable Joe Rozler; and jazz and blues by singer/pianist Anne Phillipone. There’a 50/50 drawing, a raffle, food, dancing—the works, all for a suggested $5 donation. Most of the proceeds benefit the community garden, one of the finest in the city: Come visit in a couple months to see why. A portion will be donated to Friends of the Night People, as well.

- frances boots

3pm-6pm Nietzsche’s, 248 Allen St. (886-8539 / nietzsches.com) $5 suggested donation, 21+