Rock The Hill: Local bands close out Flood's HIll Concert Series.

Flood's Hill, 70 N Ridgewood Rd, South Orange, NJ | Get Directions »
FREE

ROCK THE HOUSE NJ ROCKS THE HILL IN SOUTH ORANGE

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ - July 28, 2009 - On Friday night, August 7th, Rock The House NJ, a musicians' collective started last October and dedicated to keeping the local music scene alive, will turn its amps up to “11” and take its message outdoors!

In partnership with The Baird Center in South Orange, Rock The House NJ will produce the final installment of the Baird's acclaimed outdoor summer concert series on Flood's Hill. Named “ROCK THE HILL”, the event (which begins at 6pm and is free to the public) will showcase the area's wealth of local talent, with a roster of five bands that demonstrate that the genre broadly known as "rock", is actually quite diverse. This show is an exciting departure from the Baird's usual line-up of jazz artists...and that in itself, may speak even louder than the volume of the guitars in terms of what this collective has been able to accomplish in its short eight-month history.

Opening the night will be Alan Paul. As a senior writer and editor for Guitar World magazine for over 15 years, Paul interviewed many rock and blues legends, including B.B King, Eric Clapton and Gregg Allman. Not content to merely write about music, Paul’s real passion was playing it. In 2005 a strange thing happened. Paul moved to Beijing and while continuing to write about rock stars, he became one of sorts himself. Joining forces with three Chinese musicians and one other American, Paul formed Woodie Alan and the quintet etablished themselves as the country's premier jam and blues band. The quintet has toured China, playing to audiences of thousands across the vast country and they were named named 2008 Beijing Band of the Year by City Weekend magazine in the English language magazine's Reader's Poll. For the Rock the Hill show, Paul will bring some of this cross-cultural blues jam sound back home, with local musicians accompanying him including Mood Ring members David Gomberg and Bill Pearsall, and Clancy's Ghost bassist Rick Wagner, who has recorded and performed with rock luminaries the dBs, the Silos and Paul Collins' Beat.
www.woodiealan.com

The Caterpillar Book, performing second, is “about change, growth and understanding.” Three of its members, Ryan O’Dell, Dan Mertens and Kris Van Cleave have been playing together since their school days. Two CD’s and several band names later, bassist Vern Miller and guitarist John Williams joined to finalize the group. With roots deep in rock and roll, the band is full of influences but likens itself to Toad the Wet Sprocket, The Goo-Goo Dolls, Oasis and Counting Crows. As well as being multi-instrumentalists, all members are songwriters and singers, which contributes to their unique sound. The Caterpillar Book's first CD, "Maybe This Summer" is available on iTunes.
http://www.myspace.com/thecaterpillarbook

Next up are The Test Patterns. Self-described as “part rock, part punk, part pop, and part poetry” this band’s sound emerged from the NY music scene of the early '80's. The band, which features Stacey Lawrence's powerful vocals backed by the trio of Alex Silberman (guitars), Ned Lindsay (bass) and Mark Lipschutz (drums), has graced the stages of several Maplewoodstocks as well as performing at the second installment of Rock The House NJ.
www.myspace.com/thetestpatterns

Get ready to get down, get strange and funky with the fourth performing act, FELT!, who create "acoustafolkadelica with thump and grind." From Garcia to Lovett and from Bono to Waits, FELT puts a chill vibe and funky twist on well-known covers, allowing the audience to hear these songs as never before; the whole eclectic batch gets feltified. They bring the same vibe to their stellar original material. FELT is fronted by songwriter/vocalist/guitarist Tarquin Learned, and armed with Jim Robertson on bass, Ian Smit on squirrelly string instrument, Chris Mooney on keys, and the beat team of Steve Feldman (of the acclaimed The Beeps), and Matt Hauser.
www.myspace.com/feltband

Appearing last, but certainly not least, New Day Dawn has been nominated "Best Alternative Rock Act" by the Hoboken Music Awards 2009. Featuring John Williams (bass) and PJ Angeloni (guitar), the band is led by the married duo of Dawn Botti (lead vox/ uitar) and Gary Szczecina (drums). This same power pair was behind the indie-hard rock sensation "Slushpuppy," which racked up multiple awards, a Jagermeister sponsorship and recurring play on K-Rock in the early 2000's. New Day Dawn's polished, amped-up sound is more uplifting and draws comparisons to a "modern-day" Pat Benatar meets the Foo Fighters. Their debut EP, "The Company We Keep" is available on iTunes, Amazon and CDBaby.com.
www.myspace.com/newdaydawnband

Rock the Hill will also featured scrumptious gastronomic treats, from local caterer Simply Plated, who has been serving up goodies at all the Rock The House shows.

In the event of rain, the show will go on indoors at the Baird Center.

About Rock The House NJ: RTHNJ was formed to provide an outlet for live local music after the rash of closings in the area. In 2008, three well-known local music hangouts closed their doors forever, leaving an artistic community -- especially loud rock bands, with no place to perform. While the over-priced coffee houses could still accommodate the occasional singer/ songwriter, there was virtually no venue within a 20 mile radius that welcomed original rock acts (that is, a band that plays songs its members write as opposed to "cover" tunes) . True to its name, Rock The House NJ stages shows every 2-3 months featuring performances from NJ rock acts. The shows are "family friendly", have a low cover charge and offer its audiences opportunities to win prizes and purchase homemade catered treats. Since its inception, Rock the House has produced 5 shows, creating over twenty spots for local bands to perform.