New Music - Wakey!Wakey!

photo from cmj.com

These days it’s good to be in Wakey!Wakey! The band, fronted by NY singer/songwriter extraordinaire Mike Grubbs, has been rapidly gaining a larger and larger audience with practically every show they‘ve played over the last few months. So while they’ll continue to play to packed houses at their practical home base Rockwood Music Hall, they’ll also start playing to larger venues in the coming months. Much larger venues. Like Central Park’s Bandshell this coming Saturday at 1:30 as part of the Pumpkin Festival. Come on out, carve a pumpkin, celebrate Fall (or Indian Summer, whatever), and hear some great tunes. Stick around long enough and you’ll get a set from Chris Barron, former front man of the legendary jam band The Spin Doctors - who just happen to be the first band I ever saw live. Yup, I just said that.

But that’s not all the exciting news in the W!W! camp. Their long-rumored live album has finally been officially named (via a fan contest no less), given cover art, and will apparently be available at shows in the near future. Silent As A Movie is the name by the way, beating out rough draft (and the slightly “masturbatory” PHW favorite) Make A Fist Inside Your Pocket, as well as the tongue-in-cheek Wakey!Wakey! Sucks Live! and Wakey!Wakey! What’s Your Namey? It will feature live versions of fan favorites such as “War Sweater” and “Fallin’ Apart”. In the mean time the band will be releasing a different cover song every week for the next 10 weeks. For now go over to their myspace (link above) to hear a live version of everyone’s 3rd favorite Cindy Lauper song “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”. Yup, I just said that too.

Mike was nice enough to pass along an exclusive mp3 to PHW for sharing. It’s a live version of “LGA”, one of his more straightforward ballads, recorded live with a string quartet at Rockwood a few months back during his residency. The strings carry the song up to it’s understated climax, adding nuance to Grubbs affecting vocal melody and piano. The story is inspired by that annoying holiday airport traffic, waiting for a loved one to get home before the celebration ends. Appropriately enough, it’s going to be released on the forthcoming Liberated Matter Holiday Album to be released later this year.

MP3 :: LGA (live)
(from Liberated Matter’s Holiday Album. Release TBD)
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Be sure to check out Wakey!Wakey! at some of their upcoming shows:

This Saturday at 1:30 central Park Bandshell,
Friday Nov 2nd, 10PM Rockwood Music Hall
Friday Nov 16th, 9PM Rockwood Music Hall
Wed Nov 21st, 8PM Highline Ballroom
Wed Dec 5th, 8PM Rockwood Music Hall
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Previously :: Talkin’ New York Vol. 1 - Wakey!Wakey!
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