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Bands Nobody’s heard of that are very successful


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2 hours ago, Disturber said:

Their lead singer William Topley has had a decent solo career since.

Good golly, William Topley is fantastic!   His album Sea Fever is very, very, good.  Way to go, Disturber!  

Here's my favorite:   

 

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8 hours ago, a.bandini said:

Good golly, William Topley is fantastic!   His album Sea Fever is very, very, good.  Way to go, Disturber!  

 

Yes, I've been a fan since 91. I have the two Blessings albums, and all of his solo stuff. He used to be on the same management as Mark Knopfler, but now he's with someone else. It's been a while since he released something. I hope for a new album in the near future. 

I've played his albums when I have people at home many times. Everytime I get questions about  what I play. Everyone loves it. He's as great as Van Morrison almost, so he should have been bigger. He's the kind of artist real record company people love, 'cause he's got the songs and he's a true artist. 

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Next up

Here Come the Mummies 

Sick band with a tight show, still putting out records and killin it on the road. Niche, for sure, but when I saw them they came though the audience as a marching drum line, made their way to the stage, and proceeded to slay. And their merch table is prodigious. 

 

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On ‎5‎/‎25‎/‎2018 at 1:03 AM, geoff_hartwell said:

Next up,

Lettuce. Originally formed in Boston by the drummer Adam Deitch and my old pal Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff who grew up in Hastings NY not far from me. He was the first kid I knew that got a PRS when we were teenagers. He went to Berkelee and the band started by asking “Let Us Play” everywhere they went in Boston. There’s a documentary about them out there. An unbelievably tight band, and they are killin it out there.

 

I actually met the guitarist on a flight a few years ago as he had a Gibson case that had "Lettuce" stenciled on the outside.  I'd never heard of them so I asked if he had a green Les Paul in the case and he explained that he played in the band and they had a show in the Denver area that evening...  We chatted for a moment and come to find out they were playing at Red Rocks later that year!  After that I did some research and liked what I heard... 😀

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I'm going to throw Clutch on this list despite their being a good argument that they are perhaps too big for this thread.  Here is my counter argument:

If you're into hard rock, you probably know them, but otherwise, you probably don't.  The reason why I nominate them to the thread is that in the mid-00s, they basically got dropped off the indie label they were on at the time, had the opportunity to reclaim their masters, and have gone it alone ever since.  They have their own label, produce their own albums, handle their merch, and handle their touring.  Financially, they were never really that successful they've said in interviews until they did this.  If you look at their wiki, their albums have steadily done better since they've been on their own. 

Like I say, if you are into hard rock, you are probably familiar, but I find most people have no idea who they are.  For instance, in Oxford, Lettuce is waaaaay more well known than Clutch. Placing them with the bands mentioned on YouTube, they do about twice the business of Lettuce, about the same business that Reckless Kelly does, and about 1/3 the business of Flogging Molly's more popular vids.  I have a Clutch shirt I wear often, and I know two things due to it:

1.  Most people have no idea it's a band.
2.  A surprising number of people are really interested in owning a shirt that has an automobile part labeled on the front. 
 

 

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Hey Geoff, Do these guys qualify? You met them. Just finished a 40 city tour where virtually every show sold out. 1500-2000 capacity. Still, little in the mainstream exists on them #fansknowbest

 

 

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Yeah man, those guys are blowin up!

Was great to hang with them (and you too!) and they definitely party like 25 year old rock stars, whew!

Not for everyone, but kudos to them for blowing up 40 cities! 

An incredible feat, and a ton of people are responding - coming out to shows, reciprocating the love.

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LucSculla - Clutch is cool and a happy indie story. But YT #s are far from an accurate rating of who’s actually killing on the road.

One way is Pollstar. Its the industry reporting standard, directly from box offices, for touring bands and is used by all promoters and bookers of big venues above clubs. (Most theaters, The Beacon in NYC, etc.) According to that Reckless and Clutch are about neck in neck - with Lettuce tripling them both, and generally playing much bigger venues.

Lettuce has always been on small labels (so they own their copyrights and publishing) and licenses their music to bigger distributors (so their share is far bigger overall), and also shows up in other licensing as the promo music for the NY Knicks, etc. Their management has been really smart from the beginning, so their momentum, fortunately has been steady. When they did take a hiatus, all members were involved in crazy other projects - Shmeeans in Robert Randolph’s band on Clapton and Santana tours, then Lady Gaga’s Monster tour, The keys player was in Soulive with Eric Krasno, and the drummer Deitch replaced Dennis Chambers in John Scofields band, etc. before they all got back together.

It’s definitely a cool second wave for Clutch though, and I hope they continue crushing :)

 

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On 5/25/2018 at 3:03 AM, geoff_hartwell said:

Next up,

Lettuce. Originally formed in Boston by the drummer Adam Deitch 

 

Lettuce is a killer band. Adam played on John Scofield's Uberjam & Up All Night albums, some of my faves.

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Reckless Kelly -  "The guitarist Dave Abeyta produced the next album for the aforementioned band, and doesn’t get much room to shine on the singles but stretches out live- check out their live version of Romeo and Juliet, and 1952 Vincent Black Lightning."

Yes David Abeyta and Jimmy McFeely came from George Devores Band or should say their were passing thru and on to something else.  Abeyta if I recall correctly is a product of the Berklee School of Music and he definitely shines when let loose.   Really good musician.

The Braun Brothers have been doing it since they were old enough to be potty trained and their younger brothers are doing quite well on their own. Don't know about killing but they are out there steady and write some good ol' Americana. 

Hamerica

 

 

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