Toadies: The Charmer Tour

Toadies play prickly hard rock punctuated by jagged riffs and misanthropic lyrics. Led by frontman Vaden Todd Lewis, the Toadies are usually dismissed as a one-hit wonder because of their lone breakthrough single, 1995’s “Possum Kingdom,” but the band’s punk-style rock songs made them a snarling remedy to the more commercial sounds of the 1990s’ grunge and alternative-rock superstars.

Since Aristotle, man has organized his knowledge vertically in separate and unrelated groups---Science, Religion, Sex, Relaxation, Work, etc. The main emphasis in his language, his system of storing knowledge, has been on the identification of objects rather than on the relationships between objects. He is now forced to use his tools or reasoning separately and for one situation at a time. Had man been able to see past this hypnotic way of thinking, to distrust it (as did Einstein), and to resystematize his knowledge so that it would all be related horizontally, he would now enjoy the perfect sanity which comes from being able to deal with his life in its entirety. It is possible for Man to alter his mental state and thus alter his point of view (that is, his own basic relation with the outside world which determines how he stores his information). He then can restructure his thinking and change his language so that his thoughts bear more relation to his life and his problems, therefore approaching them more sanely. <br> It is this quest for pure sanity that forms the basis of The Black Angels. <br> -Tommy Hall

Chicago band Local H is known for their face-melting, gut-quaking live shows and for creating a catalogue of consistently clever concept albums and compelling cover songs over the past two decades. The pioneering, two-man band -- frontman Scott Lucas covers both guitar and bass through an extra pick up in his guitar while drummer Ryan Harding pounds out the rest of the sound -- has released seven studio albums, a live album, and a bunch of EPs. Harding joined Local H in November 2013 and fit right in. The re-vamped line-up has written several new songs, which they’ve been testing out live to great response from the band’s incredibly loyal fans. In between stints on the road this year, they are recording a string of singles, a move that breaks away from their usual concept album approach. They are currently touring in support of Harding’s first recording with the band: a heavy, rocking reinterpretation of Lorde’s “Team,” the first track from their forthcoming EP, Local H’s Awesome Mixtape #2. The band’s most recent album, Hallelujah! I’m a Bum (Slimstyle 2012), an epic double-album about the deeply divided political climate that exists in the U.S., has a dog theme running throughout, making it a fitting companion to the band’s widely praised 1998 concept album Pack Up the Cats, which earned a spot in SPIN magazine’s top 20 albums of that year. Local H was named “Chicagoans of the Year” by the Chicago Tribune for their 2008 break-up album, 12 Angry Months, more that a decade after their breakthrough hit “Bound for the Floor” ruled the Modern Rock charts.

(Alt-country) An alt-country band with punk roots, Vandoliers formed in 2015, bringing together a group of Dallas-Fort Worth musicians who'd already logged more than a decade in their own punk and folk bands. Together, the guys make a different sound, mixing raw, rough-edged roots music with the focused, fiery storytelling of front man Joshua Fleming. "We wanted to approach country music from a rock perspective," says Fleming, who fills the band's debut Ameri-Kinda with anthems about hitting the highway, draining beer bottles, rallying against your opponents and, occasionally, dropping acid. Behind him the guys kick up plenty of fast-moving dust, filling the songs with train beats, gang vocals, blasts of brass, and bursts of guitar. Rounded out by bassist Mark Moncrieff, drummer Guyton Sanders, fiddler Travis Curry, electric guitarist Dustin Fleming and multi-instrumentalist Cory Graves, Vandoliers pay tribute to Texas by putting their own spin on the state's musical history. Ameri-Kinda is exactly what its title suggests: a twist on a familiar sound, delivered with a wink of the eye and a bang of the head. It's twang and tattoos, grit and guitars, honky-tonk and horns, Tejano and Telecasters. It's Vandoliers.