It almost seemed too good to be true. A true outdoor music festival in Saint Louis, one where you could sit on your blanket or in a lawn chair all day, drinking and conversing with friends and music lovers? Really? In Saint Louis? LouFest delivered on its promise: to make everything easy, like you were … Read more
If you’ve lived in Saint Louis for any significant amount of time, you probably remember a local rockabilly band called Rockhouse Ramblers. (KDHX claims, “In their day, [they were] the hottest honky tonk band” in the city). According to founder Kip Loui, from 1999 to 2005, the band “played pretty much every bar, nightclub, dance … Read more
St. Louis’ The Bottle Rockets are back with South Broadway Athletic Club, and not a whole lot has changed — just have a look at the song titles: “Big Lotsa Love,” “Big Fat Nuthin,” “Dog.” I bring this up not as a piece of criticism — the down-to-earth formula works for a reason — take … Read more
LOUFEST | PHOTO BY Jason Gonulsen LouFest is now in its sixth year, and its gates are set to open this Saturday at Noon at Forest Park in St. Louis. The music schedule can be found here; tickets are still available here. Today, we’re throwing it back to the first LouFest in 2010 and the … Read more
Photo courtesy of Bloodshot Records You don’t get more beginning of the roots rock scene, the alt country genre, than this demo from SiC favorite the Bottle Rockets featuring Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar. It was released in combination with re-releases of long out of print first two records The Bottle Rockets and The Brooklyn … Read more
Early last year, we featured a stripped-down, acoustic Bottle Rockets show taped at the Wood House Concert series in St. Louis. (You can find that here.) Today, we bring you The Bottle Rockets in all their plugged-in, amplified glory. Two weeks back, The Pageant played host to a special, free show celebrating Schlafly Beer’s 21st … Read more
On Saturday at The Pageant, Schlafly will celebrate its 21st birthday with local bands The Bottle Rockets, Bunnygrunt, and Old Lights. The show is free, although you’ll need a ticket to enter. And, sorry, but all tickets have now sold out. All three bands are worth the trip down to The Pageant, but for this … Read more
Twangfest 17 kicked things off at Plush last night with a headlining show by Todd Snider, who brought along the great Amanda Shires. The momentum will keep churning tonight at Blueberry Hill with Joe Pug, whose 2012 album, The Great Despiser, was brilliant, and Motel Mirrors, which features Amy LaVere, whose last album, Stranger Me, … Read more
Somehow, the band from Festus, Missouri made it through. But it’s not like The Bottle Rockets have gone completely under the radar. In 2007, Stephen King (yes, the guy who wrote Carrie) called them “America’s premier bar band . . . often categorized as alt-country — by people who need categories.” They’ve toured extensively with … Read more
The above photo represents how The Bottle Rockets once were. Sort of, anyway. Brian Henneman is still around, of course — but doesn’t look like that now, thanks to an Atkins diet that left him in tip-top shape. Henneman still shares the stage with drummer Mark Ortmann (far right), but Tom Ray and Tom Parr … Read more
Back in early March, Speakers in Code’s resident taper Chris Finn attended a special acoustic performance by Saint Louis’ own The Bottle Rockets, a band mostly known for their loud concerts and electric albums such as 2009’s Lean Forward and 1995’s The Brooklyn Side. But as they showed on last year’s Not So Loud, Brian … Read more
I wanted more than you would give Maybe you were afraid to live With someone who loved you Oh, but there will be plenty of love on Saturday at Off Broadway for the Open Highway Music Festival. That’s when the Bottle Rockets will headline day four of the inaugural festival that also includes Ben Nichols … Read more