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Blues for punks 

Posted by Stephen Centanni | Oct 27, 2021 | Music Briefs | 0 |

Photo | facebook.com/jdsimomusic

Band: J.D. Simo
Date: Saturday, Oct. 30 at 3:30 p.m.
Venue: Weeks Bay Plantation

After singer-songwriter Will Kimbrough opens the day with a homecoming set, the Fairhope Music Festival will welcome guitarist J.D. Simo to Weeks Bay Plantation. This Nashville artist will bring a round of fuzzy, raw rock ’n’ roll inspired by Hill Country blues and psychedelic rock. His passion for raunchy sounds is not only reflected in his music but also the production of his albums, such as his upcoming release, “Mind Control.” Simo thinks his old-school, unpolished approach to studio production is more spiritually honest than high-end recording methods.

“It turns me off,” Simo said. “If I’m at a concert and somebody comes up nonchalantly, not dressed to the nines without a lot of pomp and circumstance, and blows my mind, it’s more impressive to me than somebody all done up and hyped. It’s almost a punk rock aesthetic. So, blues or R&B or funk or the North Mississippi/Fat Possum [Records] stuff really appeals to me just as much as hip-hop or anything not adulterated and packaged for mass consumption.”

For the past three years, Simo has celebrated annual releases of new material. He said this was not a “grand plan” but an organic movement to fill downtime during the pandemic lockdown. 

During that time, Simo said, he and his friends would gather each week and record an abundance of new material. He explained his new release, “Mind Control,” only represents a small amount of the music that was created during the pandemic lockdown. Now that he is back on the road, Simo has been enjoying performing his catalog. This major U.S. tour will bring him to Fairhope. He added that playing these jam-minded songs in the live environment has allowed them to “stretch” onstage.

“They’re [the songs] pretty loose,” Simo said. “So much of the framework of them is very influenced by Hill Country/Junior Kimbrough and a good portion of the beats are influenced by Fela Kuti and Tony Allen. Alan Abrashoff, who plays drums, is very into Afrobeat. With those two things, there’s a lot of room to breathe there, because a lot of those tunes are one-chord, droney kind of things.”

So far, Simo has released two singles from “Mind Control” to the public. “Know It All” and “That’s When You Know That You’re Down” are hypnotic blues sermons that pull from Hill Country greats such as R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough. Whereas his previous self-titled release delved a bit into psychedelic rock, Simo said these singles are a reflection of the rest of “Mind Control.” He described the album in its entirety as “dark lyrically” and “talking about some heavy sh*t.”

Simo said his set at the Fairhope Music Festival will be a “fuzzy, psych good time.” He went on to explain each show is different. As far as the band’s setlist, they prefer not to use one in the performance. They prefer to keep it in the moment, which should be a unique musical experience for festival-goers. 

 

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Previous‘Tiny Desk’ band takes big stage
NextFairhope Music Fest rocks the Eastern Shore

About The Author

Stephen Centanni

Stephen Centanni

With the exception of two years spent at Auburn University, Steve Centanni has spent his life in Mobile County while focusing on his two passions: music and the written word. As soon as he was issued his driver’s license, Centanni began to explore the local music scene in the early ‘90s. He filled his weekend with visits classic local venues such as the Four Strong Winds Coffee House, Vincent Van Go-Go’s and Culture Shock, all of which welcomed those who had yet to reach 18. After high school, Centanni traded Mobile for Auburn to complete his B.A. in English with an emphasis on general writing. While at Auburn, he had the honor of studying under the Pulitzer-winning poet Natasha Trethewey, who served as the nation’s Poet Laureate in 2012 and 2014. After receiving his diploma, Centanni quickly moved back to Mobile and completed the University of South Alabama’s graduate program with a M.Ed. Eventually, he was tapped by the nationally distributed Volume Entertainment Magazine to serve as the magazine’s managing editor/senior writer. His time with Volume allowed him to exercise his love for both music and writing. As Volume began to fade, Lagniappe recruited Centanni as their Music Writer and later their Music Editor, where he has remained for a little over a decade. As far as his involvement in the local music scene, Centanni organized Cess Fest at the Langan Park, which was a mini-festival focused on original local music in a time when original local music was veritably taboo in Downtown Mobile. For a short time, he brought original music to Downtown Mobile as the in-house promoter for the now deceased venue Cell Block. He managed local underground powerhouse Fry Cook, until the members parted ways. Centanni has lent his bass to bands such as Keychain Pistol and The F’n A-Holes, and he toured nationally as a member of Abstract Artimus & the Torture Children. Currently, he provides vocals for the garage blues rock outfit Johnny No. Ultimately, Centanni’s experience in the local music scene as both a participant and an observer has allowed him to witness the ever-changing persona of Mobile’s enigmatic music scene, which continues to leave him with more questions than answers.

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