It’s the Fourth of July weekend, and for many people that means celebrating with a cookout and fireworks.
But if you are looking for different ways to enjoy this holiday weekend — one that, of course, includes music — here are a couple of suggestions for you.
There is no better party band going than the six-piece Northampton-based band Bella’s Bartok, and they will literally rock the house when they take the stage at the Arts Block in Greenfield on Friday, July 1, at 10 p.m. The psychedelic rock band Carinae will open.
Bella’s Bartok has been together since 2008, and has quickly become one of the most popular bands on the local music scene, due in part to their sweat-drenched, crazy and wild live shows.
The group’s name is a nod to Hungarian composer Bella Bartok, and the group’s sound, which they describe as “klezmer folk punk,” draws heavily from eastern European music.
While Bella’s Bartok’s music defies easy categorizing, all you have to know is that it’s fun, uplifting and highly danceable. Even confirmed non-dancers find that they can’t sit still during a Bella’s Bartok show.
The group, which includes Asher Putnam (lead vocals), Jesse Putnam (accordion, mandolin, guitar, trumpet, and vocals), Chris “Fancy” Kerrigan (guitar, clarinet, vocals), Dan Niederhauser (bass and vocals), Amory Drennan (trombone,banjo) and Crisco (drums) are about to launch an extensive U.S. tour that will take them throughout the East Coast and Midwest.
The tour, in support of the band’s latest release, “Change Yer Life,” will begin right after the Arts Block show, which means this will be the band’s last show in the Valley until fall, when they return to play at the Chilifest in Sunderland.
“However, the intrepid listener just may be able to catch us playing on the streets of Amherst and Northampton, in basements of friends’ houses, and at backyard barbecues throughout the summer,” Putnam recently wrote in an e-mail exchange. “Stick an ear to the ground and listen for oom-pah, oom-pah!”
“Change Yer Life” was released in March and is a collection of 10 songs that showcase the band’s songwriting chops (they all contribute to the material) and solid musicianship.
The new disc features many fan favorites like, “Creepster” and “Mother,” both longtime staples of the band’s live shows. Some have even been recorded before, but the band re-recorded them in order to capture their current sound (they briefly had a female vocalist.) “Change Yer Life” is the group’s first self-produced effort and succeeds in capturing the energy of the band’s live shows.
Since the disc has been out for a while now, I had to ask the band’s lead singer Asher Putnam if “Change Yer Life” has, well, changed your life?
“Indeed it has changed our lives! Suddenly we’re touring the whole universe. But more important to me — to us — is that it changes other people’s lives,” Putnam said. “There’s no feeling more heartwarming and validating than someone saying to us ‘I listen to this CD on the way to my shitty job every day and it makes me happier about my life. Isn’t that supposed to be the point of music, that it be powerful and life-changing?”
And the band’s music is powerful and life-changing.
The band’s live shows are always special as they are determined to do more than just entertain. They also strive to make the audience feel part of the experience.
In March, the band held a CD release show for “Change Yer Life” at the Pearl Street Clubroom in Northampton and sold out.
So, come to dance, shout, stomp and sweat to the one-of-a-kind music of Bella’s Bartok. And since this is Fourth of July weekend, it will not go unnoticed by the band.
“What’s another way to celebrate the birth of the strange, young nation in which we live? Cartwheels? Bourbon? Human pyramid? Expect all this and more. Bella’s Bartok always has something up our sleeve.”
Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door. Available at: www.theartsblock.com
This is an all-ages show. The Arts Block is located at 289 Main St. in Greenfield
The Ashfield Lake House celebrates its first anniversary with this weekend marking a year since Chris and Andrea “Dre” Rawlings took over ownership of the longtime establishment located on 141 Buckland Road.
Since the Rawlings renovated and reopened the Lake House, it’s become something of a hilltown hot spot.
The Lake House not only boasts a menu of fine cocktails and good food, but it’s fast become the go-to venue to hear fantastic live music.
Rawlings has previously worked in presenting musical and art events, and so she brings this experience to her new role at the Lake House.
In the past year, the Lake House has hosted shows by some of the finest local talent, including Erin McKeown, Home Body, Colorway and the aforementioned Bella’s Bartok.
They also have brought in touring acts from throughout the Northeast and welcomed all types of music from rock to punk to zydeco and more.
The Lake House isn’t about to let this milestone go unnoticed, so they are hosting a “first anniversary freakout” on Sunday, July 3, at 8 p.m. The party will feature the musical lineup of Paper Bee, Wydyde, Math the Band, and What? Cheer Bridgade.
If you are going to have a party, What? Cheer Bridgade is the band that you want to have on hand to provide the music.
This group is a 19-piece brass band from Providence, R.I., who are known for exuberant live shows. The band has been together for about 10 years and describes its sounds as “an aggressive mix of Bollywood, The Balkans, New Orleans, Samba and Hip-Hop, played with the intensity of metal.”
The What? Cheer Bridgade played its first show ever at the Ashfield Lake House and can’t wait to return.
“What? Cheer has been working with Dre since 2013, and she knows how to a throw a party,” wrote Daniel Schleifer the band’s sousaphone player. “Now that she has her own venue, we feel like we have a home venue in western Massachusetts. This show is going to rule.”
The group has shared the stage with bands like Blondie, Okkervil River, Lightning Wolf Parade, Matt and Kim, Chain and the Gang and more. The band is in the middle of a tour that has brought them to the Midwest and Canada.
“This is the last night of our tour, so we’re gonna give this show everything we got!” said Schleifer.
But how is a 19-piece brass band going to fit into the Ashfield Lake House?
“We’ve done it before,” he said “You’ll just have to come to the show to check it out!”
Admission to this show is $5 at the door. This is an all-ages show.
Sheryl Hunter is a music writer who lives in Easthampton. Her work has appeared in various regional and national magazines. You can contact her at soundslocal@yahoo.com