Tag: Tame Impala

Forever Young — Issac Burgess and Friends Pay Tribute to Sam Carroll and Matt Szakal at “Samstock” Memorial Concert

Issac Burgess. Courtesy photo.

Issac Burgess wants to pay tribute to two dearly missed friends.

The Detroit singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist is hosting Samstock, a memorial concert for Sam Carroll and Matt Szakal, on November 2 at Outer Limits Lounge.

Both Carroll and Szakal passed away unexpectedly this summer.

“A group of about eight to 10 of us have kept in close contact since the boys left us,” said Burgess, who’s also curating the event. “We all wanted to put a show together of some sort because we know that Sam and Matt would have honored us the same way.”

Samstock will feature a lineup of Hamtramck and Detroit-based acts, including Burgess and his band, Boy Blue, Mars and the Satellites, Electric Bug, Josh Lutey and Friends, Rose St. Germaine, Sancho, Fishfly’s Nick Vasseur, and Cinquex.

“We reached out to all of the bands the guys had liked, and those that were available are ecstatic to participate,” Burgess said. “We booked who we could, and then I spoke to John [Szymanski] at Outer Limits about the idea. He was very supportive.”

The show will include a mixture of live music and speeches to honor the lives and contributions of Carroll and Szakal.

“We are planning a straightforward show,” Burgess said. “We’ve all got a few tunes we’re going to play for everyone, and we will probably say a few words. Our friend Mir is making bracelets for everyone. We’re going to keep it simple.”

I recently spoke with Burgess about Carroll and Szakal, as well as his latest music releases, ahead of Samstock.

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Top Flight – The Messenger Birds to Navigate Saturday Opening Set at Detroit’s Mo Pop Festival

The Messenger Birds’ Parker Bengry (left) and Chris Williams will kick off Detroit’s Mo Pop Festival Saturday with an opening set.

Editor’s Note: This is the second installment in a special series profiling Michigan artists featured at this weekend’s Mo Pop Festival in Detroit.

The Messenger Birds love the name “Kevin.”

The Detroit alt rock duo heavily reference “Kevin” in their Facebook and Instagram posts, ranging from “Kevin is a place on earth” (imagine hearing it to the tune of Belinda Carlisle’s ‘Heaven is a Place on Earth’) to “Kevin hard at work making a record” to “Lights, Camera, Kevin.”

But who the heck is Kevin, anyway? “Kevin is all of us, Kevin is everywhere,” said Parker Bengry, the band’s vocalist and guitarist.

Chris Williams, drummer and vocalist for The Messenger Birds, esoterically added, “We refer to each other as Kevin, we see ourselves as Kevin, and everybody who listens to our music is Kevin.”

While The Stratton Setlist hasn’t cracked the case about “Kevin” yet, we do know “Kevin” will be invading the Mo Pop Festival Saturday to see his favorite band, The Messenger Birds, play a coveted 1:30 p.m. opening slot on the River Stage.

The Messenger Birds will join 27 other emerging artists, including Vampire Weekend, Tame Impala, Lizzo and Ella Mai, during the two-day indie rock, pop and hip-hop festival this weekend at Detroit’s West Riverfront Park. Nearly 20,000 people are expected to attend the boutique and niche festival, which returns for its seventh year.

Each year, Mo Pop kicks off both festival days with opening performances from Michigan-based artists to expose attendees to some of the area’s rising local acts. The Messenger Birds and Siena Liggins will perform Saturday while The Doozers and the Craig Brown Band will take the stage on Sunday.

It’s been nearly three years in the making for The Messenger Birds to perform at Mo Pop. Back in 2016, festival organizers asked the band to join the lineup after another act dropped out.

Continue reading “Top Flight – The Messenger Birds to Navigate Saturday Opening Set at Detroit’s Mo Pop Festival” →