Coyote Scott Jones is the panhandle slim manhandling the bass guitar and providing backing vocals.
Mike McCullagh is the crooning, multi-talented vocalist, guitarist, and lap steel..ist.
Matt Snow is the red-haired guy who plays the drum kit, sings backing vocals, and lives amongst the carparts and bungalows.
Glenn Yoder sings while playing guitar, piano, banjo, harmonica, and whatever else he found as a substitute for friends while spending too much time in his room as a child.
Superdrag, Neil Young, Wilco, The Band, Ryan Adams / Whiskeytown, The Who, Simon & Garfunkel, Old 97s, Royal City, Toadies, Elvis Costello, The Jayhawks, Karate, Lemonheads, The Smiths, Drag the River, Nada Surf, Songs: Ohia/Magnolia Electric Co., The Beatles, Centro-matic / South San Gabriel, ELO, The Replacements, Alejandro Escovedo, Teenage Fanclub, The Rolling Stones, Duffer, etc.
Sounds Like
An ocean of jazz leads and country acoustics making love to a shoreline of sweet vocals, and all the fish and sea mammals can do is sit there, grooving on it. The noble sea-veterans also know to beware the inevitable daily ROCK TEMPEST, and have learned to enjoy the change in tide immensely.
CASSAVETTES: Pronounced kass-UH-vets (like Cassanova and Corvette).
A BRIEF HISTORY
Does hailing from Texas automatically brand you an "alt-country" band when you leave? Such was the dilemma three Texan friends faced after reuniting in Boston, adding a local Bostonian, and taking the name CASSAVETTES. But after three years, three albums, an armful of awards, and energetic shows with The Allman Brothers, Kings of Leon, and Dr. Dog, just to name a few, does it really matter what people label your music?
Known for energetic, powerful live shows that crackle with the electricity of The Replacements, Old 97s, and The Rolling Stones, Cassavettes (pronounced kass-uh-vets) has turned more than a few heads, locally and beyond -- scooping up “Best Local Band” in the Boston Phoenix reader’s poll, nabbing a Boston Music Award nod for “Outstanding Americana Act,” and making a splash at South By Southwest 2007 and 2008 in Austin, Texas, the Midpoint Music Festival 2007 in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the Dewey Beach Music Conference 2008 in Dewey Beach, Delaware.
Extensive touring from the northeast to Nashville and back to their native Texas, as well as hometown gigs headlining The Paradise Rock Club and Middle East Downstairs, helped the group solidify a live persona, which was captured on the recent live album, "Animal Friends." Now, Cassavettes are bringing that raw energy to the studio with Dave Minehan (Paul Westerberg; The Neighborhoods) and Todd Thibaud at the helm. The new record is due out in March 2009.
Crossbreeding the sounds of The Band and Neil Young with contemporary influences like Superdrag, Nada Surf, and Ryan Adams, the band mixes the sound into a blend of rock, folk, country, and blues. While they’ve drawn comparisons to everyone from The Byrds to Tom Petty to Young himself, the Weekly Dig called Cassavettes’ music difficult to “pin down” -- and that’s exactly how the band likes it. Cassavettes blurs genres musically, while keeping the storytelling element prominent in folk and country lyrics. The Boston Globe said this gives Cassavettes "charm to spare."
Cassavettes has shared the stage with the diverse likes of...
- The Allman Brothers Band
- Bob Weir & Ratdog (ex-Grateful Dead)
- Kings of Leon
- Dr. Dog
- The Toadies
- Superdrag
- Letters to Cleo (reunion show)
- Jesse Malin (Ryan Adams; D Generation)
- Drag the River
- Earlimart (Elliot Smith/Grandaddy)
- Illinois
- Hymns (toured with Beck, The Lemonheads, and Ben Kweller)
- David Dondero (named one of top 10 living songwriters by NPR; Bright Eyes collaborator).
Among Cassavettes' recent accomplishments:
- Selected to participate in South By Southwest (SXSW 2007, 2008), Midpoint Music Festival 2007 in Cincinnati, Dewey Beach Americana Fest 2007 and 2008, Dewey Beach Pop Fest and Music Conference 2008 in Dewey Beach, Dela., San Antonio Indie Fest 2007, NEMO 2006, WBCN's Rock N Roll Rumble 2007
- Boston Globe CD PICK OF THE WEEK, December 2-9, 2006, for "It's Gonna Change"
- Voted BEST LOCAL BAND by Boston Phoenix readers in the 2006 Best of Boston Poll
- BOSTON MUSIC AWARDS "Outstanding Americana Act Of The Year" 2006 nominee
- 2007 WBZ-TV A-LIST AWARDS nominee for BEST ALBUM, "It's Gonna Change"
- Headlined Boston's biggest rooms including The Paradise Rock Club and The Middle East Downstairs
- Finalist in OriginalSessions/Rolling Rock National Band Search, spring 2007
- The song “On Our Own” charted in Neil Young’s top 30 “Songs of the Times” list
"There's charm to spare on the first full-length from urban cowboys Cassavettes. The Boston band...hangs fragile melodies, gloomy strings, and casually chiming guitar figures over a series of lived-in acoustic shuffles, swampy open-road stompers, and broken-down breakdowns."
"By taking the Beatles' 'Revolver'-stomp to the saloon and getting it high on jazz in the backroom, four Texas ex-pats known as Cassavettes mosey away from the same old tear-in-my-beer twang and provide an alternative to alternative-country (Alt-alt-country?)."
-Boston Metro
"In a city thats overrun with Bauhaus and Interpol soundalikes, this alternative, folk-rock band stands out like an oil rig in open land. ... The sound is far beyond Donny and Marie, but they are a little bit country and a little bit rock n roll."
"The music is tight and poppy, rooted in good ole ass kickin’ rock ’n’ roll. The riffs are off-kilter enough so that while it’s radio friendly, it’s not TOO radio friendly—like an Elvis Costello, Tom Petty, and Mojo Nixon love child."
"It's probably not a good idea to pin down Cassavettes' sound just yet. ... The symmetry they strike is between the only two things a band like this knows how to do: sing about hard times and have a blast doing it."
"Hauled in from Texas, Glenn Yoder brings exceptional songwriting and stellar musical performances to a city not short on talent. His band, the up and coming Cassavettes, have been touring the Northeast viciously and turning a lot of heads in the college club circuit with their own unique style of country folk and rock."
"The place where pop music intersects alternative country only blocks away from where all the rock and roll bad-asses hang out ... Guaranteed good times that will have you singing their melodies all the way to the grave."
"Boston Phoenix's readers poll voted them the best band. We haven't figured out quite what to call them or who to compare them to. We do know the live show is always a good time and they're looking to the future with a new album on the way."
Groton CT! All the time I lived there, I had no idea there was anything resembling a music scene in southeastern CT. I will tell all my childhood friends to go see you, because you will definitely be the most interesting thing going on there that night.
Hi! We are just fighting with twitter...jesus this website has some server problems whole the time;) Do you have twitter? What do you think about the idea behind it? Hope your day rocked your socks off, Keep on good work and think about us - it's spring and everybody needs love;)
It was great seein' & sharin' the stage with y'all in Boston Saturday night. Hope the show went as well for y'all as it did for us. Y'all get back down to east Tennessee as soon as you can & we'll live it up a little.
Hope to see you tonight at our cancer research benefit show!
100% of the proceeds go towards funding cancer research.
We're really looking forward to the benefit event tonight. We've been covered in the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Boston Phoenix, Boston Metro, Improper Bostonian, and Weekly Dig. We're getting plugged on WBCN, WAAF, WFNX, KISS108, and a bunch of college stations.
LB from WAAF (and formerly the Bruins) will be there tonight.
TIME & LOCATION: Doors are at 8:30pm. Oliver's in the Cask & Flagon is at 62 Brookline Ave in Boston (Kenmore stop on Green Line)
PRIZES: Get there early because we'll be giving away prizes all night. There will be a table where you can read about the prizes and get prize tickets.
RED CARPET PHOTOS: We'll have a red carpet area and a photographer on hand to take photos of you, your friends, the bands, whoever...we'll be posting them online after the event.
DRESS UP: A bunch of people (bands, volunteers, and attendees) are dressing in track/running outfits at the show, so if you feel so inclined, join in the fun! Shorts, wristbands, headbands, sleeveless shirts, sneakers, etc.
See you tonight!
Cheers, Andy, Jen, The Vital Might, Build a Machine, Forgetful Jones, and Spectator
Online Now!
