Evan Hill - Vocals, Guitar
Addison Brown - Drums
Shayne Heather - Bass - also a member ofKlarcnovaandThe Secret B-Sides
JonPaul Hess - Keyboard and Synths - also a member ofNevadaandThe Green Fields
Influences
John Prine, Bob Dylan, Burt Bacharach, Lucinda Williams, Joni Mitchell, Ben Folds, Brian Wilson, Madlib, MF DOOM, Belle and Sebastian, Weezer, Wilco, Fountains of Wayne.
Sounds Like
A rock band fronted by a melodic singer-songwriter with a fondness for synthesizers.
Or This ("Freeda" from our appearance on Mount Dungeon):
The above images are in fact the cover to our new album Teenage Messiah! But the excitement doesn't end there! They also link to DigStation, where you may purchase a digital download of any one of the new songs or the whole dang album including cover art. You can also hear a preview of all the songs, and the downloads are high quality, 192kbps mp3s. Gosh! A brief word about Wilson the Rocker and Teenage Messiah:
Wilson the Rocker began with the bedroom recordings of Evan Hill. They weren't much, just some exercises in various pop stylings: folk songs, synthpop, lullabies, songs about Sears, Roebuck & Company sung by a men's chorus. You know, that kind of thing. It was all well and good, but Evan wasn't fully satisfied with his artistic endeavors. In short, he wanted to rock!
"You know," Evan mused to himself one day as he sat comfortably on his front porch, unaware anyone was listening to him, "I should record an album. It should be called Teenage Messiah and thematically focused on the transition from teenager to adult. Yes, a coming-of-age album of sorts. And it should have catchy, rocking pop songs with lots of synthesizers! And drama. Yes, definitely a sense of drama should be instilled within the songs." Then Evan began muttering to himself indistinguishably, thrumming his fingertips together and delving deeper into thought. He was quite a sight.
Six months later, Evan had his album, but alas, no way of fully realizing the music in a live setting. As Evan thought to himself (for he had been advised that speaking aloud to oneself in a public setting is not always prudent), "I need a band!" who should come sauntering up but Addison Brown. "I can play drums!" Addison proclaimed proudly, "And I can get you a band." Indeed he could, on both accounts. For it was not long before bassist Shayne Heather joined the fold, lending his rock-solid timing and RnB influence to the music. Shayne was soon followed by keyboard playing JonPaul Hess, who came with a mysterious glint in his eye that someone trained to recognize such things would identify as the glint of a man who enjoys creating complex MIDI routing schemes and assembling keytars with duct tape in the wee hours of the morning. Yes, indeed, he was the right man for the job.
Now, after their five-night debut in Asheville, the men of Wilson the Rocker are taking the spastic energy of their live show outside of Asheville, to the further reaches of the Carolinas and Southeast.
Nurse your July 4th hangover with a heapin' helpin' of comedy. We have another show chock full of the funny this Saturday. We'll see the Amazing Insulto make people disappear. We'll feature our political candidates Munson and Doyle in a live debate. We'll meet a man who has an unnatural fear of pornography. We'll view the commencement ceremony at Home School University. We'll have the most fun possible with stuffed animals. For music we'll have the Flaming Pokey Bottom Boys singing us some Gaygrass. The funny continues and YOU gotta be there.
Just a reminder that our Summer Season continues this Saturday! Showtimes are 8:00 and 9:30 at 35 Below Theater (Underneath Asheville Community Theater). You can purchase tickets online by clicking HERE. Tickets are also available at the ACT box office and at the door. But they are selling fast, so get yours quick! You don't want to miss the funny this week as we feature our own British Invasion, an introduction to the Brown Building Movement, we visit the Afterlife, and discuss politics on a very special talk show entitled "F#@k Your Mother". We will feature the wonder drug Nothingatol, have a long look at the most manly broom on the Market: The Super Sweeper, and we will even have the Feral Lads sing some Barbershop Quartet. It is going to be an awesome show, and you don't want to miss it!
Friday July 11th, will be a preview of Nashwa. LA TOOL & DIE will play then QUEEN APRIL /DJ DREES will be spinning the rest of the night. Hope to see everyone there! More details to come as we get closer.
PS: We will be celebrating mine and Queen April's Birthdays!!!
I do love seamen! I'm going to try to catch your show in Athens, GA. Or maybe Raleigh, NC. Depending on my as yet undefined travel plans, which I'm hoping will coincide with Danny's as yet unfulfilled desires. Oh my god, humidity turns my cheeks rosy.
