#andy's bar

[elijahheaps]

Tron Collective NYE Party

AND

"Juice on the Fly" @ Andy's Bar (Denton, TX) 01/09/15

[colorscaffieneandcarousels]

So last night I went to a bar called Andy's....

We went to this seedy bar downtown called Andy's across from Tokyo Sauna (the infamous "happy endings" massage parlor of the city). 

Made friends with the bar tender Debby. She had bleach blonde hair, a french manicure, and was dressed like a teenager. She looked about seventy. She was pretty cool.

Debby made me a couple of mean Bloody Marys. Delish.

Some woman cashed all her checks there I guess and then popped a bunch of pills. She ordered a pizza and got in a fight with the bar tender Debby because the pizza was too crispy. 

We got free pizza. 

Some middle aged guy named Jeret from Pittsburg tried to talk up our friend. He rolled us some joints and smoked us up. 

There were interesting people there. Lots of lonely looking people... A man who could barely stand. People losing their money on keno. They gave the rest of the pizza to some people who looked like they needed it. We really should've given it all to them.

The most interesting people watching I've seen in a while. 

[thatswhatsuuup]

Woah.

The upstairs part of Andy's Bar in SO nice and different from downstairs....it's like a whole other world...

[themusicenthusiast]

Saturday, July 13th, 2013 – A Night of Heavy Rock in Denton

[themusicenthusiast]

Friday, August 24th, 2012 – Nothing More

The American Tragedy, a band from Louisiana, was next. I had seen them some time ago at a show in Dallas, like, two years or so ago, and remembered them being good, but aside from that my memory was incredible vague. They got their 40ish minute set going with an older song, and this four-piece group sprung to life, giving the impression that this was going to be a pretty great show. They followed it up with a tune from their new EP, “Blood On the Stage”, a high-energy song that had me thinking maybe there would be some blood on the stage, ‘cause at the pace they were moving around, accidents could happen. It has a catchy bridge, where the instruments are scaled back a bit, as singer and rhythm guitarist, Adam, sings, “Forgive me Jesus, for I have sinned. I’m listening to Rock ‘N’ Roll records again. I like my Sabbath black and my lizzy thin…”. Upon finishing it, Adam told everyone they could go buy “The Flame” in iTunes, and that the next song, which was “Everyone Will Finish”, was off it as well. Drummer, Trey started them into it, while the guitars and bass soon roared to life. The song has a real sense of urgency to it, and packs quite a punch. They then got into some older stuff, and I might not have know it, but they powered through each song, showing that they were merely warming up, because they just got better and better. Ryan tore it up on the bass, while both Jackie and Adam shredded on their axes, all getting very into the performance. Towards the end of their set they brought things down a bit with the title track of their latest release, “The Flame”, which still has a nice rock sound to it. Damn, these guys were much better than I remembered. They know how to write some killer songs that will have no problem engaging you, the listener, as they have quite the knack for penning hard hitting and catchy songs. And when combined with a stellar live show, it makes for a live show that will definitely stick with you. The band has a few albums for sale, and you can find all of them HERE. Also, be sure to keep tabs on their FACEBOOK PAGE for show updates. Speaking of which, they really need to get to the Dallas area more often. Closing out the night were guys from San Antonio who are collectively known as Nothing More. They got all their stuff set up, and a little after 12:30, they were ready to roll. After some killer rock music to get everyone’s adrenaline flowing, they tore into the first song of the night, “Gone”. I’m enjoying that song again being used as the opener, and after vocalist, Jonny Hawkins, banged out some beats on his small drum set before lead guitarist, Mark Vollelunga, tore off into the instrumental, “Under The Eyes of Selene”, which soon bled into “Sixty Second Affair”. “It’s been awhile, Denton.” Jonny remarked, saying they were going to do a few new songs. It might have also been at this point that he said their brand new record is getting closer to being done, and thanked everyone for bearing with them in this long process, but also pointing out that it should be well worth the wait. And with these morsels that they did and have been playing for a while now, I have no doubt it will be well worth the wait. “First Punch” was one of those songs, and you know you have a killer song and dedicated fans, who were already singing along to the chorus, “…I’ll throw the first punch, ‘cause I kept my mouth shut for far too long…”. Another heavy new one followed, during which Jonny knocked the chorus, “…Until you realize, you’re not Jesus Christ…”, out of the park. Their show only got more exciting afterwards when Daniel Oliver removed his bass, making it pretty clear what was coming next. Jonny picked up the rod that fits into the metal case that surrounds his drum kit, with Dan placing his bass into the slot of said rod. While he stood on stage right of it, holding down the strings, Jonny played it by hitting various strings with a pair of drumsticks. It livened up further when Mark finished riffing on his guitar, then walked over to his band mates and held down some strings on the neck, while drummer, Paul O’Brien, kept the beats going on the drums. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, seeing that never gets old. They got back down to business with another new(er) tune, then slowed things down a bit with “It Seems…”, which I’m very glad has found its way into regular rotation, and the addition of the chorus from The Beatles song, “Eleanor Rigby”, after the second chorus in their song really sets it off, being the piece de resistance. “Where going to do something different.” Jonny said when it was over, and I think had a lot of people wondering if “different” was going to be good or not. “I had a way then, losing it all on my own. I had a heart then, but the queen has been overthrown…” he began, revealing the song to be a very unexpected rendition of the Ellie Goulding song, “ Lights”. If you didn’t already know the song to some degree, you certainly wouldn’t have this night. It was very much a rock song, and louder and heavier than the original is, which made it all their own. It was very good in a weird way, but then again, I recall some shows a few years back where they covered “I Kissed a Girl”, so I guess taking a pop song sung by a female artist and then tweaking it to fit their style of music is nothing new. Fans didn’t have to long to recover from that, as the sample track for “Ballast” soon fired up. It’s another heavy hitter, and you could tell just how in tune these guys are with one another. Jonny was overlooking the crowd before the second verse, but began singing it at the precise moment Paul started back in on the drums, and it’s that tightness and key precision that will keep you coming back to see this band. For anyone who might remember, the band used to cover a song by the local Dallas outfit, SouthFM (which was fronted by Paco Estrada), but it has been some time since I’ve heard them do “Vesica Piscis”. They switched things up again, though, not doing that song per say, but rather the prelude to it. Dan got on a keyboard, which had a deeper sound, more like an organ, and they did something to change the tone of Jonnys’ voice, while the guitar and drums were barely played. “I, I left you to sway. It’s a shame we had to go this far, it’s a shame we had to go at all…” Jonny sang, getting the short minute and a half long song underway. As it approached the end, the guitar notes grew louder, and as Dan laid off the keys, Mark and Paul tore into their original, “Bullets And Blue Eyes”. It was fantastic getting to hear that one again, seeing as it was absent the last couple of shows of theirs I saw, and the same can be said for “Love?”, which followed it. Jonny said a few things to the crowd, then said he was going to give the mic to Dan, who he thought had something to say. He really didn’t at that time, though hinted at the next song. He was messing with his bass, and when he was done, he started with his introduction to “Fat Kid”, “Four score and seven meals ago…”, which ends with something like, “… I had a dream where beef is always what’s for dinner.” They breezed through the shorter song and had everyone singing along loudly to it, and that brought them to the final song of their 62 minute long set and another fan favorite, “Salem”. Their antics continued at the tail end of the tune, for the all percussion solo, which requires Dan holding a tom on each shoulder, while Jonny and Mark made continuous little circles, one beating on the toms, the other Jonnys’ drum kit, and vice versa. They then got some audience participation, on the final chorus, having the crowd shout along to, “BURN THE WITCH! HAHAHA!”

I think this was the best performance I’ve seen them do since the last time they played Andy’s a few months back. It was a high-energy, rip-roaring performance, and the little surprises they had to switch it up only made it more enjoyable. These guys never disappoint, but they were certainly on the top of their game this night.

They have only a couple shows booked at the moment, one will be September 21st at the Scout Bar in Houston, TX. The other is set for October 12th at Fitzgerald’s in San Antonio. And don’t forget, you can check out their album, “The Few Not Fleeting”, while you await the release of their next record.

It was a fantastic night, and hanging out with great people only made it better.

[teachmetocreep-blog]

I was at Andy's with Michelle and Nikki and this woman walked in with this huge dog which she claimed was a "service dog". I asked if I could pet her dog. She shrugged and I just started scratching his back. His tail was wagging and he seemed very friendly so I squatted down and Was loving on him from down low. He then proceeded to snap at my face, catching the top of my nose and my lip. I backed up in shock and told the woman that her dog just bit me. She says "No he didn't". I could feel blood pouring down my face and I was like.... "No dude, he really did. Look!". Seriously, she just fucking turns away and waves her hand in my face. I ran to the bathroom with Hollie and seriously I am just covered with blood. She cleans me off and I was like, I have to go get this fucking bitch before she runs off. I grabbed her and she continued to deny that her dog did anything. She was an older woman and her dog was a pit bull. She somehow snuck out of the bar and Andy came up to me asking me what happened. I was still kind of in shock but I told him what happened and he ran after her. I guess she got away but yeah.... Everyone at the bar took car of me and cleaned me up. Andy told me that I really need butterfly bandaids or it's going to leave a nasty scar so I really need to get those. I think I'll be fine without stitches but I don't know if I need a shot or something.

Anyone who was there last night at Andy's when I was attacked, did you happen to see what the woman and her dog looked like? Going to file an anonymous police report. I need a better description.

[themusicenthusiast]

Friday, May 4th, 2012 – Nothing More Returns to Denton

Interesting conversations to say the least, and soon we went back upstairs to see the next band… Admiral Grey was already rocking out and had a nice crowd paying attention, but during this song we walked in on, I was having trouble hearing Aaron Pose’s singing. The song sounded great, and they were owning it, but I couldn’t understand anything he was saying. Luckily, I wasn’t the only one, and when they finished it a guy could be heard yelling, “MORE VOCALS!” The sound guy listened. Aaron mentioned this was a newer project of his and also plugged the next song as one that would be on their EP that will be out in the next few months. “…This one is called Love Suicide, or Pulling Strings.” he said. You could hear him perfectly now, and they killed it with that song, as well as the next one, “Don't Know Me at All”. They followed it with a couple more songs, as Krishen Loughridge continued shredding on his guitar over on stage right and bassist, Geneva Arena, was really rocking out, too. Justin Labosco began a little drum solo, serving as a lead in to the next song, while Aaron asked, “How many hard working men to we have out here tonight?” He didn’t get the desired response, so he tried it again, with more people shouting out this time, as they launched into “Just a Man”. They were already at the end of their set now, doing what Aaron said was “…One we like to end with…”, called “Dirty Red”. “…It’s my take on the Little Red Riding Hood story…” I’m probably slightly paraphrasing this, but he said something like he thought she was a slut. I can’t say I’ve ever heard that take on the story, but the song was fantastic. It’s been quite a few months since Admiral Grey did their first show here in the area and it was good to finally make it to another one. The stage at Andy’s is on the smaller side, so the amount of space they had to move around was restricted. But while their movements were a bit more limited, they more than made up for it with their presence, and they have tightened up even more than what they were when I first saw them. They’re really a great band, and I can’t wait to hear this EP they have in the works. Speaking of which, you can find a few of those songs on their REVERBNATION PAGE, and even get a free download of “Dead to Me”. Admiral Grey’s next show will be on June 16th at Trees in Dallas where they will be opening for Miser and Forty Percent, both of whom are doing reunion shows. Next up was one of the main courses of the night, Moving Atlas. I was beyond excited for this, because the show they did about a month before this was the first time I’d seen them where I was a true fan, but I felt like I was dying from strep throat and didn’t get to fully enjoy it. And I must say, being right up front for these guys is much better than sitting on a barstool in the back of the club. They got everything set up and vocalist, Dunagin Gaines, told the sound guy they were ready to start, as the music began and then swelled into the title track of their latest EP, “Machina”. Again, being down in front of the stage made this the true experience a Moving Atlas show is, especially as Matt and I yelled the lyrics at each other, “…Behold, I send you out as sheep among the wolves…”. During that song, Dunagin also shows off his chops as a frontman, as on the chorus he sings “…Like a god…”, steps back from the mic, singing it again, in a sense adding his own backing vocals, before getting right back in front of the mic, “…you can challenge it all…”. They took a brief pause after that song before drummer, Ross Rubio, got the next one going, “Welcome Home”. Both of those are easily some of the best, hardest hitting songs Moving Atlas has done, the lyrics for both are brilliant, and kicking a show off with both them back-to-back makes for a killer dose of Rock ‘N’ Roll. They did one more song from the EP, “Crawl out in the Cold”, which grows one me each time I hear it, and then did an older song, I assume from “Et Al”. “That old stuff’s pretty good isn’t it?” Dunagin said of what was definitely one of their best songs of the night, and saw both guitarist, Ricky Dansby, and bassist, Geoff Lucke, really rocking out. Before their next song, Dunagin had a question. “How many feet are in a mile?” “WhiskeyBoy” had the answer, shouting out, “Fifty-two eighty!” “That’s right…” Dunagin said, as that led them to another intense rock number, “5280”. “Red Shelter” came next, and the music bed for this song does a wonderful job of capturing a end of the world vibe (“…The power to build a bomb just to eradicate what matters…”). They started to wind their 39 minute set down with their longest song, the epic, “Muse Accuser”, and then Dunagin asked if anyone wanted to “Parachute”. The crowd wanted to, and that was what capped off their show. I mentioned that space was tight for the previous band, well, it was even less spacious with five guys on stage. In fact, guitarist, Ben Scott, was over on stage right, almost completely out of my line of sight. They still moved about as much as possible, though, with Dunagin and Geoff occasionally switching spots so you could better see his bass skills, and during the instrumental portion of their next to last song Dunagin sit down on the stage, allowing for a better view of everybody else. I said it the last time I saw these guys and I’ll say it again, they are some of the most professional musicians around, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find a band who puts on as tight of a show as Moving Atlas. Their next gig will be Saturday, June 2nd at Trees in Dallas, where they will headline, so you know it’ll be great. And check out all their records in iTunes, “Machina”, “Red Shelter”, “Elephant Gun” and “Et Al”. In most cases, putting Moving Atlas on as a main support band would be a pretty crazy decision, if for no other reason than because most bands can’t top what they bring. But it just so happened one of those handful of bands was up next. It’s been probably close to two years since the last time the San Antonio based band Nothing More had played Denton. They used to be regulars at another club here, and since they almost never played Dallas, making that hour long drive was the only way I got to see them. And then they quit playing North Texas all together… At least until early this year. So needless to say, this event had been a long time coming, and as they got ready to play, the crowd packed in as tightly as possible around the stage.

Drummer, Paul O’Brien, bassist, Daniel Oliver, and guitarist, Mark Vollelunga, got on stage first, and began with a rocking instrumental piece. All of a sudden, vocalist, Jonny Hawkins, hopped on stage and started pounding away on his drum set, consisting of a bass drum, tom and snare. The still fairly new iron “stand” (I use that for lack of a better word) that they’ve built to hold those drums looks so killer, and after a few seconds Jonny jumped up on part of it, towering over the audience. The music then subsided, and Jonny began the opening part of their first song, with the instruments coming back to life moments later. It had been a long time since I heard them open a show with “Gone”, and it seemed to be exactly what this crowd wanted to hear, as they tore through the emotionally charged song. I believe Jonny stated how good it was to be back in Denton when they finished that song, while the other guys went right on into the next song, as Mark broke out into his blistering guitar solo for the instrumental song, “Under The Eyes of Selene”, which of course was wound into “Sixty Second Affair”. They weren’t holding back at all, and went straight into their next song, a new one, that Jonny said was called “First Punch”. “Do y’all want to hear another new one?” asked Jonny afterwards. It was a definite yes to that, as they did my favorite new song of theirs… or at least my favorite out of what few songs I’ve heard. The song is fantastic, especially on the chorus, part of which I believe goes, “…I’ll keep sucking, sucking, sucking you dry until you realize you’re no J-J-J Jesus Christ.” To follow that up, Jonny grabbed an iron rod and placed it in a slot on his drum kit, swinging it around so it faced the crowd. Dan took his bass off and placed it on that hooked rod, holding down some of the strings while Jonny tapped the strings with a pair of drumsticks, and towards the end Mark got in on the action, holding down a few of the strings along the fret board. That is really one of the coolest, most unique things I’ve ever seen a band do, and with just a few rather simple modifications they managed to elevate it to a whole new level. As they got back to their spots on stage, you could faintly hear the sample track for the next song, growing louder and louder before exploding into “The Cleansing”. They had one final new one for this show, going into the harder, edgier, “Ballast”. For part of this song, Jonny pushes his voice to a whole new place from any other NoMo song, especially during the first verse, in particular on the lines “…When did we build this broken home…” and “…Dropping our hearts to grip our brother’s throat…”, where he digs into a deeper, somewhat throaty scream. The song gives you a true adrenalin rush, and will no doubt become one of the bands classics. Speaking of classics, an older fan favorite came next, “Love?”. That one had everyone singing along, but it wasn’t until the end when you could actually hear the fans singing the final chorus, “…I’ll sing it till the stars fall down, I’ll sing it till my lungs dry out. I could sing it all night long, but you never listened when I sang this song…”. Once that was over, Jonny passed things off to Dan, saying he had something to say. “…Four score and seven meals ago…” he started, going into his hilarious speech, serving as a segue into “Fat Kid”, a song that got people very excited. They then rocked out the “The Few Not Fleeting”, and then a song you wouldn’t expect to hear live, “It Seems...”. The song is one of my favorites and was a highlight for me during their acoustic show down in San Antonio last August, and while it becomes a powerful little number, it still lacks the punch their other material does, making this a rare treat in my opinion. Towards the end, before doing the chorus again, they changed it up as Jonny began singing part of The Beatles song, “Elanor Rigby”. “Look at all the lonely people, where do they all come from?...” he sang a few times before finishing out the song. They then announced that their time was almost up, wrapping things up with “Salem”. About halfway through Dan laid his bass down, grabbing a tom and raised it up to his left shoulder, while Mark brought him one for his right arm. Dan stood in front of the full drum kit as Jonny and Mark began making loops, with one getting a few beats in on the drums Dan held, while the other played the partial kit, repeating it a few times. That little stunt is something else that sets Nothing More apart from other bands, and even though you know they’re going to do it, it still never ceases to amaze. When that was done Dan put the toms down as they returned to their stations, finishing out the song and calling it a night. An encore seemed inevitable, but as soon as they walked off the stage the chants for one more could be heard. I guess that means Denton had been deprived of Nothing More for far too long. Dan, Mark and Paul soon returned, with Jonny not far behind as they did “Waiting On Rain”, which seemed like it would probably conclude their set. “I think we have one more.” Said Jonny as he looked at his band mates, like he was making sure they were down for that. This was what I had been waiting all night for, seeing as they had moved my favorite song of theirs from the opening tune. They ripped into an instrumental piece, and before you knew it Mark was shredding away at the begging of “Bullets And Blue Eyes”, which put an end to an epic 65 minutes of rock. This was easily one of the best performances I’ve ever seen any band do. It was just incredible, and aiding their performance was the energy and excitement of the crowd, which the band obviously fed off of. A mosh pit broke out on more than a few occasions, and even once so many people were jumping around and moving, I could feel the floor shaking, making me a bit afraid that it may cave on everybody. I’m still just in awe of this, I mean, Nothing More was good nearly six years ago when I first saw them. Jonny taking over on vocals elevated them to a whole new level, and now, and now, they’ve pushed themselves so much further. And I feel very comfortable saying that there is no better currently active band in all of Texas than Nothing More, and if you want to disagree, then you obviously haven’t been to one of their shows.

It won’t be years before the next time NoMo gets to North Texas, as they actually have two shows here next month. The first is Saturday, June 2nd at Trees in Dallas (where they will be main support for Moving Atlas), while the other show is going to be Friday, June 22nd at Hailey’s in Denton with a band they are touring with, Bravo Delta. Aside from those dates, the rest of their schedule as is follows: May 16th at Blue Bonnett Palace in Selma, Texas. May 18th at ND Austin in Austin. May 19th at the Strawberry Festival in Houston/Pasadena. June 3rd at Sunken Gardens in San Antonio. June 15th at Brick by Brick in San Diego, California. June 16th at AMPLYFI in Los Angeles, California. June 20th at Tempe Tavern in Tempe, Arizona. June 23rd at Eclipse Cultural House in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Also, find “The Few Not Fleeting” in iTunes, and their forthcoming record should be out later this year. This was just a real fun night, filled with both great music (one last shout out to WK Productions for putting this together) and hanging out with great friends/business partners, and it will definitely live in my mind for MANY years to come.

One last noteworthy thing about three of the bands that were on this bill, they all have a song available for download as part of a FREE music compilation. Paco, Moving Atlas and Nothing More are all featured on Escaping the Ordinary: Volume III, which you can download by going HERE.