Cold weather doesn’t have to mean nights curled up on your couch in front of the TV. This weekend, leave the blanket and remote in your living room and venture out for some awesome live music at one of these three intimate Milwaukee venues.
Thursday: Juniper Tar
Tonight, Juniper Tar will be at Club Garibaldi, 2501 S. Superior St., for the release of their latest recording, The Howl Street EP.
This Milwaukee-based folk rock group is comprised of friends Jason Mohr, Aaron Schleicher, Ryan Schleicher, Tuc Krueger and Chris DeMay. The band was formed in 2005, but the members had known each other for years, even though some had briefly lived outside Milwaukee before returning and gradually assembling.
“We just kind of started slowly getting together,” said Mohr, the band’s lead singer-songwriter and guitarist. “I had been writing songs for a while with this project (the band) in mind.”
After releasing their first record, “To The Trees,” in 2008, Juniper Tar continued writing and perfecting their sound.
The four songs on “The Howl Street EP,” although not written together, were composed over a period of time when all of the band members were going through various changes in their lives. This provided a unifying theme for the songs, which is why the band decided to release them together on one recording.
“They (the songs) are not about any of our experiences in particular, but they can be openly interpreted depending on what you are going through,” Mohr said. “They were written in a way where all of us can relate to the main theme together.”
Mohr said the band has been playing the four songs throughout the writing process, but tonight will be its first time playing them all as one piece.
“We are going to be playing a lot of older material that we haven’t played in a long time in addition to the new record,” Mohr said, “so we are kind of excited about that.”
In addition to Juniper Tar, there will be a special performance by The Vulgarians and a live DJ set by WMSE 91.7 FM’s Dori Zori. The show starts at 9 p.m. at Bay View’s Club Garibaldi. The cost is $6 and patrons must be 21 or older to attend.
Friday: The Laureates
The Laureates, a Chicago-based indie rock band, will be performing at the Union Sports Annex tomorrow night promoting their new EP, “No Kontrol.”
The Laureates solidified over a two-year period between late 2005 and 2007 and released their debut LP, “There Are No More Gentlemen,” in November 2008. Members Chad Preston, Adam Penly, Pete Gray and Crawfie Ward decided to keep the momentum going and began recording “No Kontrol” in 2009.
“We thought our first album was too clean-sounding and polite,” said singer and guitarist Preston, “so we wanted to do something a little noisier and dirtier sounding.”
Preston said this EP is closer to the way the band wants to sound.
“You obviously want people to like it,” Preston said, “but we want to please ourselves first before anyone else.”
The songs definitely sound a bit less clean-cut than those on The Laureates’ first recording, but Preston said that allows the listener to better feel the band’s energy.
The show starts at the Annex at 9 p.m., with an opening performance by Tom Luschinski. Admission is free for Marquette students and $5 for the general public.
Saturday: The Daredevil Christopher Wright
This mouthful of an indie rock trio from Eau Claire will be performing at the Cactus Club, 2496 S. Wentworth Ave., this Saturday. The show celebrates the fifth anniversary of Milwaukee music blog Muzzle of Bees and will also feature Strand of Oaks, The Small Cities, White Pines and Conrad Plymouth.
The Daredevil Christopher Wright is comprised of brothers Jason and Jon Sunde and friend Jesse Edgington. They have been playing together for about six years, and put out their first full-length record, “In Deference to a Broken Back,” in May 2009.
“This full-length was a long time coming,” said singer and guitarist Jon Sunde. “Since then, we’ve all gone full time musically.”
The songs were not written together as one large piece, but were composed over time. Sunde said when the band was working on the record, they wanted to find a message or focus to bring the album together.
“Something we came to is this idea of the profound in the mundane, that there is an honest amount of depth in the simple things in life,” Sunde said. “That is kind of the unifying message that I have sensed with the album.”
Since the release of “In Deference to a Broken Back,” the band has started working on new material, but its real focus has been performances all around the U.S.
“I’ve just been amazed when you perform a show live and you can tell that people just get moved by your songs,” Sunde said. “When you see people get moved by them and get excited by them even when it is like the thousandth time you’ve played that song, it’s a pretty humbling and pretty cool experience.”
The show starts at 7 p.m. at the Cactus Club, in Bay View. Patrons must be 21 or older to attend.
