Whiskerman is a rock-and-roll overture to our great unraveling. Possibly one of the best shows you will see this year. Table reservations $70, email monte@thesirenmorrobay.com
Over the last 7 years the Oakland band has developed an underground reputation for tackling the sublime with their ambitious songwriting, thunderous stage show, and acute lyricism. They have since emerged as an engine of the Bay Area’s revitalized psychedelic and festival scenes. Frontman Graham Patzner, who will crow like a medicine show preacher, and then coo you into the arms of his lovesick eternity, might be a spitfire protege of the underworld himself, though, through and through he will remind you that there is no rapture without artistry. On the surface this is splendid rock-and-roll, rooted in the classic, psych and glam rock tradition, but the pageantry and chaos of Whiskerman’s performances will leave you describing an experience more than a sound.
Whiskerman is preparing to release their fourth studio album, Kingdom Illusion–a rock and roll vision quest that ushers the band’s elegiac psychedellia towards a louder, pushier, more colorful sound. Their past albums have been described as “ecstatic psychedelia, sturdily constructed pop-rock, pick-and-grin folk all together as a single picture.” (Flood Magazine)
The band is: Graham Patzner (vocals, guitar, violin and piano), Will Lawrence (bass), and Charles Lloyd (guitar and sitar), Dan Schwartz (drums), and Jeremy Lyon (guitar).
Gene Evaro can sing, play and lead in a way that brings to mind Stephen Stills or Prince. His songs have a natural showmanship built in to them, from charging, salsa-tinged breakdowns to fluttering horn drops, to big-city guitar solos. Watching Gene Evaro Jr and his band feels like you are experiencing some grand force of nature spiritually, like making love in a hurricane or testifying to the heavens in a meteor shower. Gene and his band have performed at JTMF many times, always rising up to deliver a show that is superior to the previous masterpiece. With national tours (Blues Traveler, Elle King, Milky Chance), and prominent festival plays under their belt, Gene & band will one day (soon) be known to many.
