MSGers OPENING FOR EASTON & BACKING HIM DURING HIS SET
"Teeth of Champions EP bites a helluva lot harder than anything Tom Petty has given us in the last twenty years." - MY OLD KENTUCKY BLOG
The Madison Square Gardeners released their third EP in twelve months when they dropped the Teeth of Champions EP in March via First of Three Records/Ioda and the band members have a long pedigree as backing musicians for artists like Ben Kweller, Justin Townes Earle, The New York Dolls and Roseanne Cash.
The MSGers will be hitting the road with one of their musical heroes when they open for and back Tim Easton from Chicago to NYC in June, including co-headlining bills at Rumba Cafe in the MSGers’ hometown of Columbus, OH. Gardeners Mark Stepro and Aaron Lee Tasjan co-produced Easton’s new album BEAT THE BAND while in Nashville, and are very excited about its release.
Tasjan exclaims, “I used to see Tim play at Andyman's Treehouse in Columbus as a kid. I saw his network TV debut on the Craig Kilbourn show and his four star review in Rolling Stone for Break Your Mother's Heart, and that inspired me to want to have a career as a singer/songwriter.”
Aaron Tasjan first met Tim when he was in Europe with Kevin Kinny and the three played several shows together. Stepro and Tasjan have been in Easton’s backing band for three years and this is their third tour together. Before they hit the road, The Madison Square Gardeners will play a long overdue, FREE, belated EP Release show on Thurs, May 19 at Rockwood Stage 2 in NYC at 11pm.
Tasjan has found his voice as the front-man for The Madison Square Gardeners. As Sean Moeller of Daytrotter commends, “The Brooklyn band taps into the very things that make us wish for endless summers, for those humid nights that are just right for falling in love and staying there.”
LISTEN TO THE MADISON SQUARE GARDENERS' DAYTROTTER SESSION
BEAT THE BAND marks Tim Easton’s first entirely independent release since his ’98 debut, Special 20, and is also his first effort recorded (and produced) with a traveling band comprising Easton, Aaron Lee Tasjan (guitar & piano, Madison Square Gardeners), Mark Stepro (drums, Ben Kweller, Madison Square Gardeners), and Alex Livingston (bass, Grand Champeen)--collectively known as The Freelan Barons--during a five day session at Nashville's Club Roar. It was mixed by Grammy® winner Steve Christensen (Steve Earle, Joe Sample) in Houston. Easton’s direction and depth of craftsmanship shine on Beat The Band – one foot standing firmly in the history of American folk music, while the other strides deftly into lush pop harmonies and song constructions.
“The Madison Square Gardeners seem to get it," says My Old Kentucky Blog. "Nothing too tricky. No strenuous lifting. No superfluous time signatures. Just the sort of top-shelf roots-flavored rock that sounded great 30 years ago, and will likely be just as pleasing in another 30." The Deli Magazine says the band, "continues their output of twangy pop/rock tunes in the tradition of the best Tom Petty or Bob Dylan post 70s."
Moeller of Daytrotter concludes, “It all started somewhere and many of those beautiful beginnings can be heard in the power-pop songs of the Madison Square Gardeners… ‘True love ain't always innocent/If you want it, you pay for it,’ and that, ‘A dark heart is dangerous,’ but it all feels like Main Street on a late June evening at the drive-in movie theater, with the fireflies flickering on and off, here and there, like popcorn's being tossed at the screen, but the lovers could care less.”
THE MADISON SQUARE GARDENERS & TIM EASTON (backed by the MSGers)
Thurs, May 19 – New York, NY – Rockwood Music Hall - Stage 2 - (MSGers only - Belated EP Release show)
Wed, June 22 – Rock Island, IL – Daytrotter
Thurs, June 23 – Chicago, IL – Beat Kitchen
Fri, June 24 – Columbus, OH – The Rumba Café (co-headline bill)
Sat, June 25 – Columbus, OH – The Rumba Café (co-headline bill)
Mon, June 27 – Cleveland, OH – Beachland Tavern
Wed, June 29 – Washington, DC – Jammin Java
Thurs, June 30 – Philadelphia, PA – North Star Bar
Fri, July 1 – New London, CT – Oasis
Sat, July 2 – New York, NY – Mercury Lounge
“Dissonant rock ’n’ roll riffage mixes with tongue-in-cheek country-rock on Madison Square Gardeners’ spiffy new EP Teeth of Champions, and the Brooklyn sextet displays their mastery of sardonic but good-natured pop that’s naturally addictive… these guys play it casual but intense, just like they should."
- Edd Hurt, NASHVILLE SCENE
“The best NYC has to offer …”
- VILLAGE VOICE
“The hardworking tone was set early today by this New York-based six-piece, who channel classic Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers into a raucous but melodic three-guitar attack and nostalgia-tinged songs like 'At the Record Store'. (Note to younger readers: a 'record store' is where kids used to go to buy music.) Sporting a red bandana tied around his head a la Springsteen circa “Born in the U.S.A.,” the band’s lead singer executed the tightest 360-degree, mid-guitar-riff twirl I’ve probably ever seen.”
- METROMIX
“Americana-inflected pop/rock in the vein of A.M.-era Wilco… There's no shortage of infectious hooks here, and the heavy pop sensibilities complement the band’s sentimental tendencies — making it a rewarding listen."
- E MUSIC
“The twangy alt-rock sextet from New York relies on pop hooks and harmony.”
- COLUMBUS DISPATCH
“There’s not a bad song in the bunch. Full of crisp lead vocals and harmonies, hooks that are as catchy as hell, and a slightly Southern feel that gives the band more texture than you usually find in pop rock.”
- BERKELEY PLACE
“The music is reminiscent of some of Wilco's most pleasant backyard BBQ tracks.”
- COLUMBUS ALIVE
A snappy collection of power-pop tunes that connects the musical dots between Tom Petty and Paul Westerberg.”
- CLEVELAND SCENE
MSGers EPK
http://www.myspace.com/madisonsquaregardeners
http://themadisonsquaregardeners.com/
http://twitter.com/gogardenersgo
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